Milagro Art Show

I went to hang my art for this show at Milagro Studios with much trepidation.  When I committed to being in the show many months ago, I was in the mindset of the Day of the Dead, and I did not work except on Shadow Archer Press.  So when the time crept up on me and I had only produced two new Day of the Dead style pieces in beeswax encaustic collage, I felt guilty and inadequate.  I had three oil paintings which I thought suited the theme, and those two pieces - not enough to fill the wall.  But Bethany talked me up and Kay was wonderful when I hung my work which is made out of bits and pieces mostly and while very personal, is low brow art, not fine art.  I talked to Kay about my Victorian/Stemapunk series and she said to bring it and hang it too. So I did.  These too are encaustics but are form my series of perhaps, some would say, controversial, themes.  They were not ready to hang so I worked like crazy, like a madwoman trying to finish them up and figure out a way to present them.
As often happens when I'm desperate I got creative and found the perfect way to hang them which also fed into my Victorian aesthetic. So at the last minute, I was adding gold leaf, gluing on metal findings and working up to the wire.  I was so ill-prepared in every other way it was embarrassing.  I forgot my business cards, could not find the bags and tissue paper I used for Black Swan Thieves Market, did not prepare at all for an art show with all the little details like I did when I lived in my art studio.
But the show went amazingly well, people actually liked the work.  I thought they'd ridicule it, yet I sold one of my favorite pieces. Wonderful people came out to support me including Mark and Mike - who arrived on his Harley right outside the door - how exciting.  And Vicki came form work with Julia, who took lovely photos.
There were a lot of new people including lots of young folks, thank goodness with their open minds and fresh approaches. The wall also looked a lot better than I'd imagined and offered a small body of work, not a thrown together jumble as I'd feared.

Saturday during Open Studios I talked to Paul Flint only to learn he had been in the same last minute craziness, no time to put title cards up near his massive pieces, forgetting he had to fill the back wall of the Art Bomb. It made me feel better that professional artists like Paul worked down to the wire as well. 
Although now comes the usual round of emotions.  A little depression until I start the new projects, the frenzy of creation, the ecstasy when a project works and then the doubts, the insecurities, the feelings of being inadequate and out of step, always out of step.