Hello everyone!
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Throwback…Tuesday?
Sincerely,
Laura (aka “The IT department at beverlyshipko.com“)
Every year I conveniently forget one of my New Year’s resolutions, which is to think ahead and start getting ready earlier for my April Open Studio. This year was no exception.
Maybe I should start a master checklist of all the details, and at the top I would put “Remember to spray the paintings with Damar retouch varnish the week before going to the framer” – rather than days before.
Then there’s the haircut and flowers for the front porch planters, which took a beating this past winter and will need to be replaced next year.
The push to finish new work needs to start earlier.
And then there’s making space for people to move around in my studio. Here’s the before with 4 easels with no room to walk.
Here’s the after. Maybe this summer I’ll turn over a new leaf and simply donate some of the stuff in boxes that I never use.
To keep it real, I decided to leave my paints out in their gloriously messy state.
Getting the details out of the way sounds like a good plan, doesn’t it?
I just have to remember to focus on the big picture and not get too bogged down by the details that are less important. After all, I don’t want the devil to rear its ugly head.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the people who helped make this year’s Open Studio a success. It really does take a village.
First, I’ll start with Bonnie, who helped with the preparation and gave up her entire weekend, after working as a full-time elementary special ed teacher all week. 
Bonnie is always full of ideas and has been a sounding board during the entire creative process. As the food artist in the family, she (and Jay) volunteered to handle the dessert table.
Next, let me introduce you to Maritza, who is great at anticipating what needs to be done and keeps me on track. She also gave up her weekend to help out after working two jobs all week! I don’t know how she does it – and with a smile.
Here she is in action overseeing the Oreo Cookie Contest in the kitchen.
Now, we come to Jay, who makes it possible to pursue my artist career. This past week, Jay ran constant errands, moved furniture, hung paintings, cooked, and cleaned, among other things too numerous to mention. I am grateful to have him in my life.
A special shout-out to Joe Sablow of Artistic Services in White Plains, NY, for coming through with beautifully crafted custom-made frames that give my paintings a distinctive look, and received many compliments this year.
I can’t end this post without acknowledging my other daughter, Laura, who developed and manages this website from Urbana, IL while getting a graduate degree in Biophysics and Computational Biology. While she’s not a visible presence, she has been a major force behind the scenes.
Now you’ve met the team. Thank you for everything! I couldn’t do this without you. Most of all, thanks for your ongoing encouragement and support to pursue the dream.
In times of stress, it’s so important to keep your sense of humor – and be flexible.
I’m thinking of the specific moment in time that you see here when we were attempting to hang the egg paintings in a straight line.
I was supposed to move the nail up a half-inch, only I was so tired that I moved it down! Bonnie captured the moment with my iPhone for posterity. Fortunately, we weren’t too tired to laugh about it!
Earlier in the day, I spent quite a while arranging paintings on the front steps, only to have Bonnie come home and tell me the display wasn’t working. While I already knew this which is why I asked her advice, it didn’t make me happy to hear it out loud. Nor did I know how to fix it. Apparently Bonnie did because here’s what she came up with – and it looks great!
For two days, I had experimented with numerous arrangements of small and medium paintings on this front entrance wall, and nothing felt right. When I unpacked this new and larger egg print, I knew that it belonged here (hiding the numerous holes beautifully!).
As a result, I had to find a new home for these, which ended up working well against the brown (aka Oreo Cookie brown) walls of my studio. Looking at this is making me hungry!
In the end, somehow everything came together – as it always does – and I even got some sleep Friday night. ( I also sold two paintings off this little wall – the Oreo and the Reese’s.)
Having said that, next year I am going to start my big push to get ready for the Open Studio a month or two earlier. Maybe that will help cut down the last minute stress, always a good thing. Right?
