7.30.2006

mossy bank, c 2006

copyright 2005

Finally, a new post

Wow, a lot has happened in the last few months. I was selected to hang a solo show of my digital paintings at the Charleston County Library's art gallery for a month. It took lots of time (and money) but it went up on schedule, July 1, and I will take it down tomorrow, July 31. This thing of being an artist vs. being an unemployed librarian is tricky navigation, especially since my first solo show was in a library.

I had some trouble after I stopped working as a librarian knowing who I was. (Short answer: human being) It's a shame we identify ourselves so much with how we earn a living. And then the art gig was organic. I was doodling on the computer with images, mostly to destracting my self from thoughts of suicide. And one day, Mikki, my business parter, convinced me that what I was doing was better than doodling. Or at least, more profitable. Hark! I'm an artist?

Last week, the third week it hung, I went by the administrative offices to say hello to my friend Cynthia, the main library manager, and I was announced by the receptionist as "The artist, Lisa Ravenwood." Whoa...

Nothing sold and the homeless library patron/art critic said my show was too abstract and most of the people who said they would come didn't. And in the final analysis, none of that matters. I've had the pleasure of walking into a room full of my art to feel a deep warmth spread across my chest and an involuntary smile come across my mouth and think, "wow, I LIKE this art."