The problem again is fear. I missed something in my entry and now I am back tracking and looking for cash. It will be there like me at the post office this week. I started looking for more shows to enter next year. I seem to apply to high for my britches. The ripped my heart once. Changing my sight line took two years. Now I am back at it. Paducah, Ky looked good for a moment. So did Lancaster, Pa, the land of the Amish. All that until I realized how intense and open the competition was. My quality and finish is not there yet. It will be. I refuse to be afraid of a juried show. I like to think that it will only make me stronger. I remember I have no strong bone to weather competition. There is no whining about that. The simple point is that I just do not have the experience and I have not had the budget. I have a benefactor this year. My name will not be plastered in lights, but I have a little support and I am taking advantage of it.
Go figure, I am a trained painter and a self-taught quilter. Right now, I compete with quilts and no two dimensional medium. Follow your heart? I wonder if that was it. I must remember that competition is but one angle to the profession. Learning to blend different approaches will come with time. Delving into the gallery scene keeps getting put off my schedule for the sake of forgetting, fear, and foregoing the work to apply for sewing the long week day. I heard that there are problems in the gallery scene because of the economy. From others I heard it is a buyer's market. In the hollows of the night there were hints at closings. I played it down and looked to broaden my scope into e-commerce and craft shows. Meanwhile I have inventory to do on everything. That I am dreading. I have no doubt that I will unearth something from 2009 that is scratched and moldy.
As ever, stay hungry and curious.