The feeling is amazing when I take a risk...

At first it is almost unthinkable. I weigh the pros and cons. I have a little argument with myself about the worth of the risk. I feel alternately giddy and terrified.
And then I decide to go for it, and it becomes very, very scary - putting myself out there, opening myself up to rejection. I think we are all just like Sally Fields, seeking validation: "You like me! You really like me!"
When it is my art I am risking, it's like putting a piece of myself out there, a little bit of my soul, a little chunk of who I am. My art is what I am on the INSIDE - the part I too often keep hidden. A reflection of both the joy and pain in my life; it's my heart.

And so, at precisely 9:12 a.m. this morning, I did it.
I entered three pieces of my art in a JURIED art show and - can you hear the chorus of angels singing Hallelujah? - they were accepted!!!
WAHOOOOOO!!! I gambled, I risked, I took a chance, I walked the tightrope and didn't fall!!
I have never entered a juried event before and really was on pins and needles all day. This was a BIG stretch for me. I even put the paintings in my car last night so I wouldn't chicken out.
But then, pulling into the arts center parking lot this morning, I felt waves of nerves again. Two of the paintings were VERY large and I thought possibly - with limited space at the center - they might be too large. Then I thought they might not fit the theme of spring. Then I thought the colors might be too bright. Or too dark. Or....whatever, just not right somehow.
Then I caught sight of some of the other entries and my heart really sank. Boy there are some AMAZING, let me say it again, AMAZING artists in Eastport....
I dropped them off in Eastport at the Eastport Arts Center - They will be part of the EAC's Festival of the Arts - Rite of Spring. A reception will be held this Friday and the show runs until June 26.
Are you proud of me? I am feeling quite full of myself this evening ...
Now we'll have to see if I have enough courage to go to the reception......deep breaths, Sharon. Listen to your mother - "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" - and go for it! And most importantly, what should I wear?

P.S. For those of you who are interested and familiar with my paintings, I submitted "My Grandmother's Dresses," "Forget Me Nots," and "Ghosts of Herring (a version similar to the one Russ and Lyn bought last fall.)"