". . . a brush with nature"

As artists we often find ourselves in settings and situations where we are surrounded by, and interacting with, many different people. We may be at the opening of an exhibition (our own or that of another artist or artists), working at an event where we have a booth set up, or doing something as simple as exchanging paintings at a gallery. No matter what the situation is that you find yourself in it is always of upmost importance to exhibit professionalism. It is so important, in fact, that I should say it again, with emphasis. 

Always be professional and respectful with everyone. 

I believe this is important in all parts of our daily life, but especially important if you are trying to grow a career or business of any sort. You want to be remembered for the “right” reasons, not as a troublesome individual who was difficult to get along with. So, no matter where you are and no matter who you are with, be it show organizers, gallery owners or staff, other artists or patrons, etc., it is always important that you act in a respectful and professional manner. It really does matter and make a difference.

And one more thing. Professionalism should also go both ways. 

It recently came to my attention that being professional and being treated with respect is a two-way street. You, as both as an artist and as another human being, deserves being shown that respect, too.

I like the challenge of putting myself and my art “out there” by submitting my work to juried shows. I have been doing this for years now and the shows I have tried for have gotten larger both in size (routinely including national and international shows now) and number along the way. Not only have the shows changed, but the entire submission process has, too.

Back when I first started submitting paintings artists still had to, in many cases, deliver or ship the actual work to the venue for the jury process. This was not for the actual show, but just to find out if your piece was accepted for the exhibition. Then, either way the decision went, you picked up your art and waited to deliver it to the show later if it actually made the cut. This wasn’t too bad if the show venue was somewhat “local” and if decisions were made the same day, but if you were an artist trying to branch out into new areas it could be somewhat of a commitment, both in time and expense.

The second popular submission process at that time was to send in a professional slide of your art for jurying. Of course this did not involve the same time, travel and other expenses as the first option, but most of us had to hire a professional photographer to have our slides taken. That was expensive, too, so many of us got together, hired the photographer and made a day of it, having lots of photographs taken of LOTS of art.

Things are so much better/easier now because of digital cameras and the digital submission process itself. For example, I am extremely blessed to have a husband who takes great photos of my artwork right here in my own studio for all my art business needs. This includes submissions, my website and anything else that should happen to come up.

Even though the submission process has become very streamlined these days, one thing has still not changed, and I don’t expect it ever will. That is the wait time to find out the results! I’m not good at waiting and it is still excruciating to do so.

Remember that old saying, “Hurry Up and Wait”? Well, it’s an “old saying” for a reason, I guess . . . and I am still waiting for more results.