One Artist's Journey

The Mission Inn in Riverside. Photo courtesy www.simplycreate.files.wordpress.com

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 0
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 38

After a week off, I am back to work. I am excited to paint. But of course, I spent the morning online paying bills and looking for local art organizations.

I am on to step 2 of my master plan. I have built a small body of work over the past several weeks and now it is time to tell people about what I am doing. I plan to write press releases and join organizations for artists.

We have a local artists group, the “Mountain Artists Network” that I will probably join, mainly to support the local art scene. There are several artists that are listed on their site that I think it would be beneficial to get to know. Like minded artists anywhere are an asset.
http://www.mountainartsnetwork.org/

Then there is an art association in Redlands, a nice city down the hill from here. It is a classy city and is doing a good job to support the local artists. I visited the web site and they have a “hanging-day” for members every six weeks. You bring your art and can hang two pieces and then you work for 8 hours in exchange. Sounds like a fair deal. I will probably drop by tomorrow and sign up for that group and start exhibiting.
http://www.redlandsartassociation.org

Then I found the web site for the Riverside Art Alliance. http://www.riversideartalliance.org/index.htm

Riverside is the biggest town around here with any kind of art scene. They are working hard to develop the arts in this area and I would love to support that. I read something on the web site that I can’t find now, that said  major cities are judged by their support of the arts. I think they are doing good things, so I am excited about joining them too.

They are having an “Off the Wall” fundraiser. Artists can submit up to 5 pieces of art. Everything is priced below $300 and it is a 50/50 split with the association. They are raising money for the Riverside Museum. They have done it for 6 years, so I guess it is successful. The entries are at the end of this month and you don’t even need to be a member to participate!

Talk about good timing. I usually hear about great opportunities right after they happen and then I have to wait for a year for it to come around again. Not this time. I will let you know how it goes, but right now it looks like I may join 3 art associations. Talk about busy!!