Flip of a coin

Beach Dunes

All my wonderful artist friends know what I am talking about when I refer to the big discussion that ensues about whether you made it into the "Duxbury show" or not…Every year people either complain or are thrilled with the results and it becomes a big topic of conversation. I was lucky enough this year that the coin flipped in my favor. If you put it into percentages for the number of times I have entered and made it in, it's probably maybe 50%. I remember one year entering the show thinking I would have no issues making the cut with one particular painting. I even only entered one piece I was so confident. Well, you can guess the results. (Large buzzer sound-Baaah!) The only good thing that occurred that year, was I didn't let this thwart me and entered it into another show where that piece proceeded to win Best In Show.

The jurying process really is subjective, even historically. Just look at the Salon des Refusés of 1863 which included such notables as Cézanne, Pissarro, Manet and Whistler.

So the moral of the story is:
Never get disheartened if you don't make it into a show and Never get your ego up if you do.
-author me

I also read this quote recently and am making it my mantra not only for my art, but for my life-

Never compare your journey with someone else's. Your journey is your journey and not a competition.
-author unknown

White and Blue

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I was awoken early this morning by the school systems "connect ed". I guess there is so much snow out there  (cmon-it's a dustin'!) that they implemented alternative bus routes for this morning. pfft. What, do we live in Virginia? Throw some chains on those big yellow suckers and toughen up! Can you tell I don't like to wake up to the sound of the telephone ringing first thing in the morning? I am so not a morning person.
You know, when I was a kid I walked 2 1/2 miles to my junior high (what they call middle school nowadays). Seriously, 2 1/2 miles. That was the cut off. And our walking route actually included walking through a cemetery. If I had to stay after for any activities, there were times I was walking through the dark through the cemetery…Scary! But, We were tough. I actually remember a blizzard that was not predicted to be as bad as it was, so they had to let us out early from school. Back in the day of dinosaurs they didn't have the sophisticated weather predicting resources our weather men have nowadays. Although, here in New England that sometimes does not seem to help. Anyhow… I was wearing a pair of loafers, not boots, since they hadn't predicted this Nor'easter and the wind was howling and the snow was coming down sideways and fast. I had to squint my eyes to stop the stinging of the piercing snow as I tried to see where I was going as I plodded through the deepening snow. It seemed to take forever to finally get home and my feet and hands were numb and my face bright red. When I finally fell through my kitchen door my mother turned, glanced at me and cheerily asked me why it took so long for me to get home. We were tough. No alternative bus route for me. No bus for me. We were tough. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah…I know. The alternative bus route is for our children's safety. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda. (wimps)
The picture above I actually took last year around this time when we did have a nice big storm that would have warranted an "alternative bus route". I am too grumpy to go out this morning and take photos this morning. Plus it's too dangerous out there.