I must say I’ve been as neglectful of my blog as those few people who have stopped in to read it. My dashboard is showing 1-2 visits and I know who one of them is, she is my faithful regular, checking in to see how things are.

I ended my first art festival season run on a great note. I only participated in four festivals this year and each one got better. I sold two originals in two shows, and to my surprise I took home a Best of Show award from the Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival two weekends ago.  It was such a humbling experience to receive such an award.  I was sitting next to my daughter at the ‘artist reception’ dinner listening to the directors hand out awards for best new artist, third, second and first place.  I figured if I had any shot it was the Best New Artist award, but when that announcement came and went, I was really only thinking about getting home from a long day.  The Best of Show artist was announced last and when I heard my name, I felt stunned for a moment, then an overwhelming sense of gratitude filled me from head to toe as I stood up to accept something I thought I would never see in 100 shows.   It means a lot to me knowing that I was recognized, not by my family or friends, but by fellow artists and strangers who saw something in my work that was worthy. Surely this must be a sign of good things to come.

I’ll never forget that moment, I’m sure such things are few and far between even for the best of the best.

Since the Lincoln show I’ve not felt a pressing need to do much of anything but relax and just do ‘nothing’. I need to clean the studio up some, and get my paperwork, receipts and notes organized and filed away. I still have not touched the book painting I was so eager to finish a month ago. I expect to get back into the grove soon. Right now, I have a cold gin and tonic to sip on and some other art related tasks to knock out before I go to bed, so I’m heading out for the night. More in a day or so.