Waiting.

It's been a tough week. My husband went away to Cyprus for a fortnight, to visit his sick mother. I told myself that I could fill the loss of his presence by painting more hours than I already do. Then my arm injury flared up, causing intense, relentless pain. I couldn't paint, I couldn't even wash the dishes. Most depressingly, I was unable to stretch up 2 new, large canvases that I was longing to start. Drawings on scraps of paper and envelope backs are scattered around my flat, waiting to unfold onto canvas in glorious technicolour! But the positive aspect (and I always try to see the positive), was that a troublesome painting I was forced to put aside suddenly shouted out at me a few days later that it was finished!
So with copious quantities of painkillers in my system, I trawled the internet for potential galleries. I found a number of new galleries in the UK to approach, and (most exciting) several New York galleries that will look at your work and hold it on file, for future group shows. It's so much easier to communicate with galleries nowadays, and to send images, and this week I will be applying to all the galleries on my list. Sometimes I believe that my colours will fit the States better than they do here, as there seems to be a tendency towards a dry, grey realism. I have given up applying to local galleries, as inevitably my cards go in the bin, no matter how polite the owner is towards me. Generally, colour is not seen as a 'serious' subject, but merely as adornment.
Now I'm waiting to hear if my work has been accepted for the Kings Hill Project, another corporate show. I'm really praying for this one, as it would be great exposure, and their website would have links to mine. My agent asked me recently if I have done any new work, since the Gainsborough House show in December. I have around 18 new paintings you can select from, I told her. I'm checking my Blackberry every hour, hoping to find a confimation email from her.
('Permission,'  Oil and acrylic on canvas, 45cm by 45cm.  The painting I had to put aside.)