Cocoon

(The painting I didn't take to the gallery)

There is a perfect storm brewing right now.  So much is happening, that to stop and write would be to miss something.  There are changes happening all around me and in me, and it feels like swimming fast, you have just a flash to catch your breath and your face goes back under the water again.  It's all business.

Last week I completed and fine tuned several paintings, chose one and built the frame for it, typed up an application and in the eleventh hour drove to a gallery.  The gallery owner asked if I was there to submit for the big exhibit, so I handed him my painting.  "Oh, wow..." he smiled as he took it.  Needless to say, I was tickled.  There is no better compliment to me than that first reaction to one of my paintings.  I handed him my application, walked around for a bit, then headed home.  It is always strange leaving a painting.  Like leaving a very quiet child.  Back in the car, I realized I hadn't even taken a picture of it.  I drove home smiling.

Then I waited.

Yesterday the news came.  I have been accepted into a jury selected exhibit to be shown in Downtown Sacramento at the Kennedy Gallery.  I have to paint 25, 8x8 inch paintings.  I have three done, so that takes off a little pressure.  The show is the first of May.  There is a lot to get done.

But believe it or not, this is not the biggest thing happening for me right now, though it really feels like a representation of what is happening.  I feel like I am that caterpillar deep under a layer of silk, or a seed hidden by the earth.  There is so much happening right now beneath the surface.  I am not quite ready to pop out and show the world all the changes, and they wouldn't be that obvious at first look if I did, but things are changing.

Things are definitely changing.