My First Gallery Hanging - Litmus Gallery - Anything Goes 2013

I submitted three of my paintings to Litmus Gallery in Raleigh and then started to chew my nails. Submitting work is nerve wracking - it is the waiting. I am no stranger to submitting my work. I have submitted to several magazines with my jewelry, and have been published over 20 times - and the results are the same. I have no nails.

The acceptance date had come and gone with no word from the gallery and I removed it from my mind and continued on to other adventures. Then the email came. Two of my paintings were accepted! I will be honest, I teared up, squealed, and maybe even pee'd my pants a bit.

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

"Cosmic Chrysanthemums"11 1/2" x 14 1/2" acrylic on cherry wood cabinet door

"Meteoroid Showers on Sand" 11 1/2" x 14 1/2" acrylic on cherry wood panel

Tonite is the reception, and I couldn't be more proud and more nervous and more excited! I can't wait to see my work hanging in a gallery and to see all of the other submissions. I can barely focus on the day, I want to be at the gallery now :)

Do You Know Craft Gawker?

I ran across some information a couple of weeks ago about Craft Gawker. A great place to showcase your work, and now, even link back to your blog!

and - FREE!!

It is a great way to get your work out there, and drive traffic to your blog or site.


Taken from their About page -

Craftgawker is a gallery where anyone can showcase their art, crafting and photography skills. It's a place for you to discover new artists and handmade goods to inspire your own creations. Anyone can submit pictures, if they follow our simple site rules...

1. Attribution is MANDATORY! Do not steal other people's pictures!
2. Do not violate anyone's copyright! Any post with violations will be removed immediately. Let us know if your photo was mistakenly posted.
3. Registration is required to post pictures.
4. Post beautiful, well-balanced, craft related photos.
5. Photos are cropped to 250 pixels by 250 pixels.
6. We reserve the right to remove posts at any time.
7. Submissions are moderated.

Right now, we're accepting images from select websites, such as blogs and flickr, as long as there is some content associated with the image, i.e. no photo only pages.

craftgawker is a spin-off of our food gallery, foodgawker. Come visit foodgawker if you want some cooking inspiration. If you have any questions, please use the contact form to get in touch or leave us a comment with your thoughts, ideas, recommendations. Thanks!

I can't get my pictures right - that is something I have never been good at, so alas all of my submissions have been declined. But I will continue to submit and I will prevail!!

Good luck kids!

A Peek

I told Dawno I was going to do this tomorrow, but being that I am already sitting here :)

I am not the best at taking pictures but here is a peek of the set up. Sandra's mom said she would take some 'real' pictures and then you can see it in it's true glorious - ness!


The pinned and framed mess that has to go in the car


These following two have what we call 'keepers' in them. Our husbands. They are tolerant and patient with us as we hide ourselves away to work/create our next piece. They kiss us goodbye and wave sweetly when we leave them at home on the weekends for shows. They smile and say 'Yes Dear' as we drag them along to our set ups. They gladly jump in and help. Mine needs little more than, 'Honey there is a Dunkin Donuts on the way', and he is in the car and backing out the driveway before I am buckled in. Deep down they are proud of us, and puff up a little when they talk about their wives and the little niche we have carved out for themselves.




Sandra's husband Steve doing calculation with Mr. Van.


My husband James marking the walls for the frames.




We are close to done


Sandra's wall is coming along nicely.




My wall - I was concerned about the lighting, but as you can see, the lights are placed perfectly to shine in the boxes.

Gallery countdown

The Arts Counsil show is soon, too soon

The jitters are setting in -

Do I have the right pieces
Are they set right
Are they good enuff
Will they be secure
Am I really doing the right thing

More and more questions and doubt run thru my mind.

We hang on Saturday, the pieces will display for a month and then life goes on.

This is a peek at what will be on display:

Mojave Sunset - Turquoise, coral, carnelian, rose quartz, sterling, amethyst



Luck Be a Lady - Vintage lead crystal (repurposed from my Grandmas necklace), Czech crystal, pearls, chalcedony,



Evenings Inspiration - Tourmalated quartz



Enchantment Song - beach glass and sterling