Our startling adventure when we delivered my paintings to the art show.

It’s important for the reader to know that artists are very attached to and sentimental about their work.  Just to say we are careful with our paintings would be an understatement.

The evening before the art show I reverently wrapped my eight paintings and packed them into carrying cases in preparation for the two mile drive to the Art Show the next day.  Well, Saturday morning as we unwrapped the first painting at the venue ……it fell out of the frame; all the way to the floor. Dropping a painting to the floor is startling and nerve-wracking and just plain awful.

(I’m so glad I did this portrait of myself. I use it a lot!)

After recovering somewhat, we unwrapped another one and that painting also fell out of its frame. Why did that happen and at such a time? Here was clearly one reason I always get a headache when a glue-gun is mentioned! Thinking I MIGHT need it, I had brought some serious glue with me and we hastily began to do the repair. Meanwhile a volunteer stood waiting to hang them on the exhibit panels. She had a lot of work to do, which did not include standing around waiting for glue to dry.

David had to first scrape the old glue-gun residue off the back of the paintings before we could apply the new glue. As soon as I had completed the gluing and placed it back in the frame I wanted to press it down firmly for a few minutes. Instead, the volunteer took it and hung it on a panel…..vertically, of course. I had visions of arriving at the opening of the show and finding at least two of my paintings lying on the floor, glued to the carpet. The judge would probably not take the trouble to critique anything on the floor….specially if she couldn’t get it unstuck from the carpet. The glue would probably work perfectly then, of course, stuck to the carpet!

 We repaired the second painting and did a quick, nervous check of the other 6 paintings I had entered. All seemed tight enough. Fingers crossed here! We went back home to wait until the show opened at noon.

When we arrived  I was so relieved to find them all hanging with the paintings still in their frames, AND one was sporting a “Second Place” (Professional Category) award ribbon, titled “At Tharri Monastery-Rhodes”. Yay! All was well and lots of fun after all. Plus, one of the first paintings to come unglued that morning won the “Peoples Choice” Award later on that afternoon, coincidentally titled, “Congratulations”.

The glue episode made a good story to share with all my friends who came to the show…and to you, my blog-following friends!

You are probably wondering how in the world a painting can fall out of a frame and be glued back in. I used floater frames on five of the paintings.They are very good looking and well made.

 I order my frames from King of Frames in Costa Mesa, California,  http://www.kingofframe.com/Floater-Frames_c_19.html.  The frames arrive completely finished in the back. All that is needed is to glue your painting on its back and place it into the frame on front, of course. I first used the glue-gun because I thought I could pop the painting out in case it did not sell at the show and use the frame a second time for a different painting in the future. That’s not going to happen now, since I used the world’s best glue for repair. Those two paintings are forever together with their frame. I may rethink my frame choices in the future. NO glue-gun and NO glue!

None of the above has discouraged me from continuing to paint  in my little workroom/studio, creating yet another series of paintings for the next show. I’m just a wiser framer.  My plan is to begin a series of paintings of Santa Fe, New Mexico. A good idea.

“I want to meet a guy named Art. I’d take him to a museum,hang him on the wall, criticize him, and leave.”― Jarod Kintz, 

Why I would make a lousy football coach!

My blog is intended as an art blog, but some other interests of mine are so important they can’t be ignored; like The Houston Texans football team. Remember in my last blog I mentioned how much I like to talk? Well, this morning I was airing my feelings and emotions about the game yesterday against the Raiders. But when I got tired of just talking to the mirror in my dressing room, (my husband was as far away as he could get and working in his home office)…… I thought “Hey, I have a blog…all my own…the perfect place to….talk!”

When I was in high school and on our drill team, I attended every football game. Soon I began to think I would like to be a football coach instead of an artist. After all, I had a grasp of terms such as first downs, four downs, over-on-downs, field goals, touchdowns and I even learned to spot which player was the Quarterback…..IF they were lined up for the next play. However, when I graduated I drifted into the art field. My head had cleared but I did not lose my love for watching the game.

My husband is also a fan of the Houston Texans, but being a perfectionist he doesn’t like to actually watch the game. He bought me a “Smart TV” for our bedroom. He prefers watching a science fiction flick at that time.  When a fabulous play happens I yell for him and he comes running to see the wonderful play. Good ‘ole DVR. My TV is so smart, I barely know how to turn it on, and I’m not kidding.

We have two sons, both of whom played baseball growing up and dabbled in football. We also have three Grandsons, one of whom played football until a torn ACL and four surgeries due to that injury ended his football dreams. He has accepted that and is in his third year of college and doing well.  All our Grands, including the Granddaughters, are outstanding young people…but I’m getting off the subject.

I suspect now that I was probably the ONLY person in the universe who said yesterday….”Oh, I’m so happy they are giving Matt a chance to play”. I ran down the hall to tell David the good news. I like Matt Schaub and always will. Of course, knowing only a teeny bit about football gives me free rein to love whomever and  whatever I choose to love. No real discernment or accountability is required of me. But don’t get me wrong; the Bower household and extended family is rife with graduates of the University of Houston and Case Keenum has long been our favorite Quarterback. We are thrilled to have him on the Texans team. But shouldn’t everyone get a chance to play?  I sound like a little league parent, don’t I? But that’s me.

Yes, I would make a lousy football coach because…

I look at football through the eyes of a Mother and a Grandmother. I care about every one of the players, even the opposing team players. I’ve even cried recently and prayed for a player on the other team when he was badly injured. I hate injuries. Frequently, I say “Bless his heart” when a player misses a perfectly thrown pass, or fumbles the ball on the 1/2 yard line. Then when coach Kubiak collapsed on the field two Sunday’s ago…I was traumatized. I was stunned into silence except for saying over and over again, “Bless his heart”. (I’m a native Texan…that’s what we say!) I wondered how in the world those players could go out on the field to play the second half. I know, I know….they lost…..but….wow, that took focus. I prayed for them all.

It’s a good thing I chose art instead of football coaching. The world has never missed me on the sidelines. But I’ll be right back in my very own recliner, with my very own Smart TV next Sunday and saying……”Bless their hearts” and…..

GO TEXANS!