"Contemplation" (framed size: 31 3/8w x 31 3/8h x 2 1/2d inches), is a painting I created during the summer of 2018. I am happy to say that it has found a new home with first time art collector, Eileen Donovan in Chicago, Illinois. She is an extraordinary woman who first saw this painting at my very first art show exhibition, The Other Art Fair Chicago, May 2019.
Eileen was drawn to Contemplation and contacted me in December of 2020 to see if the painting was still available. I replied "Yes." She sent me her feelings about the painting.
"I would absolutely love to own it. I can't stop thinking about it and it would be my first investment in a real piece of art. It reminds me of Spring in the hills around the air base where I was stationed in Spain and the amber of the Fall wheat fields when I flew across southern Colorado."
Before The Other Art Fair Chicago May 2019, I had started painting full-time in 2017 slowly building a body of artwork and trying to figure out the business side of the art industry for visual artists, which is a challenging task and one that I was going to conquer with on going education.
One late night, I was reviewing different abstract painters and their websites and came across The Other Art Fair Chicago 2019 Exhibition at the Mana Contemporary, and saw an opportunity to submit some paintings for the show. John, my husband, immediately said to enter, but being over analytical as well as self critical, I read the entry rules 50 times over and asked myself "Am I worthy? Do I have any ounce of talent?" "Do I understand the Art Industry?" Well, I stopped listening to those negative voices inside my head and uploaded the number of artworks permitted to enter in The Other Art Fair, and clicked the return key.
The following month in March 2019, I found out I was accepted into The Other Art Fair Chicago. My head exploded!
What followed was a crash course in learning an amazing amount of logistics and deadlines to meet. As a first time artist to show and/or exhibit at an art fair, it was mind blowing as well as scary, both financially and emotionally. My husband was so excited about my acceptance in to the Art Fair, he immediately planned the road trip from Denver to Chicago, and mapped out an invitation list of family and friends to attend my exhibition. We both have family and friends in the Midwest and Chicago.
Contemplation is defined by Merriam Webster's Dictionary as the following:
Concentration on spiritual things as a form of private devotion.
Looking back on where my painting "Contemplation" started and where the painting resides today with Eileen in Chicago, I feel gratitude that I gave up my fear of doubt in myself and took a chance in entering The Other Art Fair Chicago Exhibition 2019. That experience has shaped me as a visual artist, allowing me to share my works and express an aspect of myself that others appreciate in a medium that allows them their own voice.