ARTWALK 2025

I went into ARTWALK with just one thought - I was going to enjoy every second of it.

Since most of my friends were away, I knew no one would be there to support me, but that was fine because my goal was simply to meet new people. It gave me “Carte Blanche” to be myself with an entirely new group of visitors.

The tables around me were being set up for selling artwork, and as usual, I had nothing to sell and no clue how to price anything. However, I wanted people to see my work and was eager to gauge their reactions. I was thrilled that my pieces were so unusual (compared to everything else being shown) that people were taken aback and had to stop and do a double take - a couple of people told me that someone told them to come in and check out my art!! How exciting!!! Everyone who stopped by my table wanted to engage with me and learn more about my drawing style and subject matter. As an artist, it's wonderful when people connect with your work. The challenge was that every piece on my table was a page from one of my journals, and I was unsure how to present or price them for sale. Honestly, I found it difficult to part with any of the pieces.

I was also very excited that many pieces sold out quickly. I was given a couple of commissions that I have now delivered so that was exciting.

I had hoped my friends would surprise me, but that didn't happen. It's understandable, as most of them aren't familiar with art and don't realize how challenging it is to express your deepest emotions and open your soul through your work, only to see people either ignore it or make baseless, hurtful remarks because they can't connect with or understand it. That was the downside of the event, but fortunately, there were very few such comments and people—only one, in fact.

I anticipate next year's art walk and hope that by then I can display the piece more professionally and present myself more acceptably. Just kidding, I'm not going to change!