It occurred to me that I forgot to mention some exciting news from the last couple of months.  When we first looked around Staunton, our new home town, we visited a great gallery that is the Shenandoah Valley’s largest cooperative gallery.  Co Art Gallery has been around for over 20 years and has many of the area’s most well known and loved artists as it’s members.  In my mind, I set it as a goal to be part of this wonderful space if we should settle in Staunton.

It had been on my TO DO list since moving in September to find out about applying to the gallery but I was more involved in new house adventures and it didn’t happen.  One day in late January, I looked at my TO DO list and, ignoring all the other things on the list, focused on the gallery and thought, “OK, just do this.”   I called the gallery, found I needed to drive down and get an application, so did that immediately.  I spent the afternoon , completing the application, updating my CV, and deciding what pieces to include for the standards committee to review.  The next morning I took it all down and left it at the gallery.  And then waited.  In a week or so, I was told that I had been accepted!  Woo Hoo!!  I was and still am so honored to be part of this wonderful group of artists.

March was my first month at the gallery, so I spent the rest of February deciding what to hang in my space and preparing those pieces.  Each artist is assigned a space that is approximately 5 or 6 feet wide and you can put whatever you choose in your space.  Every three months the whole gallery shifts around.  We change spaces and change art work to keep it all fresh and interesting.  I’m currently preparing new work for the next big shift on May 5. There are also bins for loose prints  as well as shelves for note cards.  I’ve placed some of my inspirational fine art cards on the shelves and will be adding just a few prints to the bins this week.

Each day, a different artist, or two, is at the gallery as a  docent to assist people coming into the gallery, located on the main street of downtown Staunton in one of the many architecturally fascinating buildings.   After serving as docent a few times, it’s been quite interesting to meet other artists whose work is in the gallery as well as the people who come in to see the work.

My display on the day I set it up in early March.

Just last week, 3 of my pieces sold.  The first one, The View from Shore 10, I replaced with Flow. Flow sold the next day. and Calm Waters replaced that.  I few days later, Between the Mountains and the Sea sold and I replaced it with Golden Aspens 1.

It was a good week!  I’m happy that the work is speaking to people.