Pat Meets World: Submitting to Gallery Shows

As I was considering offering my work for commissions, I also started submitting to gallery shows. Wow, scary. Kind of like it must feel the first time a singer hits a stage for an audience. What if I stink and my fellow artists mock me? What if we weren't really "fellows" and I was just a hack, and they were the artists? Well, I had to just do it. No other way to know if I fit in other than to try and fit in. So I put work in Arts Benicia's Art of a Community show in January, 2010. The piece didn't sell, but I didn't audibly hear anyone laughing. There it was, my piece, on a wall, in a gallery. Wow.

I drew an ocean-themed picture I just loved that Dennis's daughter Trista took in Hawaii. I love Spanish, so titled it "Tortuga."

I wanted the turtle to look like it was coming out of the page. This started a technique I am still using often, where the subject escapes its borders

My next piece is "Pelicano" drawn from a great picture my sister Barb took. It was on the wall at a show called H20 at Sebastopol Center for the Arts in July of 2010. No one bought it, but there I was again, this time at a juried show where no one knew me, on a wall, like real art.

I drew two other pieces for this show, but they were not accepted.

Ola Caida

Leones del Mar

I will have these two pieces in the upcoming Art of a Community show, January-February 2011 at Arts Benicia. I still really love them. I wanna be where that wave is! The bubbles are Trista's again. The palm trees are from a photo I took on the big island in Hawaii, and my sister inspired the sea lion section.

This past year, I also had two pieces in the "Bees at the Bee" show in Sacramento.