Reception's over, but what a time it was!

It.is.over.!  The paintings still hang there for another nearly two weeks, but the reception went off without a hitch, for the most part, aside from the sad absence of my BFF who was unable to take time off to come back down again.  I got there with all my "merch" - additional paintings I had completed recently, sets of notecards I had printed up to sell at the event, canvas bags and little drawstring canvas totes for wine or - in the case of fellow painters - paintbrush bags.

We displayed the merchandise on a pair of tables near the exit, had a pair of "Mailing list" clipboards and other material near the exit too.  My son, Pete, served as host, welcoming guests into the restaurant and I am proud to say, the 76 seat occupancy place was packed at times!  The owner and I estimated we had more than 80 people there!  On a Tuesday night, we figured that was a great thing to pull off.


Highlights of the night were when Pete introduced me to the crowd, and when I presented a painting I had done for the non-profit organization Operation Stand Down Nashville.  Bill Burleigh, the organization's executive director, seemed to be tickeled pink by the painting and I was so excited to present it and inform the crowd about the great organization.

Other standout moments included seeing high school classmates, painting buddies, and others that I really did not expect to be able to come for the event.  Again, mid-week, downtown Nashville, etc.  And near time for the event to wrap up, Ben Leming, the U.S. Congressional Candidate for the 6th District in Tennessee came in with several of his supporters.  It was a great way to end the evening and I felt truly honored that he took the time to show up. 

As for selling, we did far better than I expected, sold many of the smaller paintings, had numerous admirers of the larger ones, notably the Congaree Swamp and "Miracle" one, and had many folks sign up for the mailing list.  Later in the week I'll post another "after action" post. Tired now and finally unwinding after a stellar event!

Showtime: Hectic Day!

Busy day filled with errands to buy last minute supplies, pack the car, stick stickers on everything for sale, and race on into Nashville for the Reception at The Mad Platter Restaurant.  We're expecting over 50 people, but just how much over 50 is anyone's guess.  Good thing there's a supermarket and liquor store 2 blocks away. 

Some media outlets picked up my press releases, including
The Nashville Scene
Now Playing in Nashville
Nashville Arts Magazine
Events near Fairview

The rain should hold off, weather's in the mid-80s, and my eyes are not too wonky so far! 


Exciting stuff! 

Heading to the East Nashville Arts Fest

I've been looking forward to this for more than a month and the day is finally here!  For those unfamiliar, East Nashville is the eclectic and nouveau artsy, semi-bohemian part of Metro Nashville across the river from the rest of town. 


More well known is the East Nashville Tomato Art Fest, in its seventh year.  That one's in August, and yeah, I'm eagerly awaiting that one too.  Loadsa fun, all built around “The Tomato…A Uniter, Not A Divider- Bringing Together Fruits And Vegetables.” 

But for today, it's not about Tomatoes, but simply East Nashville. And as this is the first ever of this particular festival, I'll reserve judgement til we've been there.  You'll hear more later, I'm sure.

Rainy Weekend Painting

Despite the miserable weather, this was a great weekend, filled with painting pleasure.  I think I had a solid eight hours of painting time yesterday.  The downside is, I need to block in some downtime for "visual rest."  I was hoping to work on my website (moesse.com) and just had to leave it unfinished as my eyes became so darn unfocused.  Leave it to me to come up with a condition that is typically a childhood thing!  Did I ever tell ya I had sleeping sickness as a child?  Yeah, when they quote that one in a million stat, believe me, they're talking about me.  Except for becoming a lottery winner, unfortunately.

Happy Birthday BFF!

I've spoken of my best friend, Bindy, several times I know.  Today's her birthday.  We've been best friends since the age of four!  Very different people, but we fit well together.  And we've a shared history that most siblings don't have.  I'm blessed to have a friend like her and hope today is great for her.  I painted the above and three other "season" paintings for her while she was here.  They're tiny 5" x 5" square ones.  She likes them! 

Another inverted blossom image

As I said in an earlier post, I've used photoshop to "game" some of the images I paint.  I have an image in mind, lay it out as a photoshop pic, change the color channels and run it through filters to see what comes out. 

So why not bright orange and red dogwood blossoms against a deep brown sky? 

Wonky Eye Mystery: SOLVED

Phew!  I thought I was going crazy after going to my physician, getting a battery of x-rays to see if sinus problems were causing the "Wonky Eye" syndrome I reported here a few weeks ago.

The x-rays and medical exam resulted in a "see your optometrist" recommendation by my doctor.  She couldn't find anything and the x-rays showed no sinus problems.

So, today I hit the eyedoctor and am really glad.  Not only was my problem identified, but it's not serious at all.  If you knew me, you'd know I hit the internet searching for all sorts of diagnoses, from nasal polyps to brain tumor.  Instead, Dr. Trapeni, my adorable and great-hearted eye-doctor identified it as "Convergence Insufficiency."  Basically, it's a weakness of the muscles of my left eye resulting in the eye having difficulty to align and focus once I shift my gaze from one visual field to another.  Read more about it here.  He recommended a few simple vision exercises to help strengthen the muscles which I'll definitely do. 

Interestingly, this can be a cause of pediatric and adolescent poor school performance for, even if a child has 20-20 vision, this disorder can cause major problems in trying to focus on and read academic materials. 

So anyway, there I am.  Not a hypochondriac, or victim of brain tumor.  I have weak eye muscles and it's an easy fix.  Phew!  

Where everyone knows your name!

Or, at the very least, your beloved, 90-year-old painting teacher...  Tuesday the Art Center offered a "freebie" class session, just to ensure we shake off the cobwebs and flex our right-bring, etc. etc.

It was great to see those who made it in, and we of course shared our flood experiences.  But the day held special significance for me since it was the very first time Hazel remembered my name.  Bear in mind, she's 90, has taught hundreds of folks through the years.  I was deeply flattered that I was important enough for her to take the time to know my name, as used as I was to "you there!" and "that girl" and such from sessions past.

And even more flattering was the acknowledgment by her that I really "have something!"  As I said, she's mentored many incredible talents over the years.  I am not confident enough to believe I have really reached their level.  Rather, I think she was pleased to see the revised flyer I gave her promoting my show which included digital thumbnails of several of my paintings.   Between you and me, I think the digital reproductions can be far more attractive than the real image, especially when tweaked in Photoshop...  but I'll take her praise all the same. 

Reception Postponed!

There's a reason I'll never venture to California.  Some might think I'm crazy, but I swear, I have this intuitive knowledge that if I ever set foot there, "The Big One" will hit.  I'm talking the earthquake that's predicted that will send (hopefully not really) California into the ocean when it hits.  It's just my sorta luck.

Ironically, though it wasn't forecast, the same can be said for "The Thousand Year Flood," that struck Nashville the weekend of my Art Show Reception at The Mad Platter.  I know it's not all about me, in fact, I feel so very fortunate that we didn't suffer any loss or damage due to the flooding that took place.  But, yes, the Army Corps of Engineers calls it a "Thousand Year Flood" occurrence since it so far surpassed flooding predicted even for 500 year flood plains!

The several days after the flooding were basically spent regaining normalcy here in Middle Tennessee.  Several tragedies struck, including loss of several lives, countless homes, and even significant damage to major landmarks including the Grand Ole Opry, Opryland Hotel, Downtown Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame, the Schermerhorn Symphony Hall, and more.  It was tragic and devastating and the outside world didn't seem to realize the magnitude of the 12-24 inches of rainfall we here in Middle Tennessee experienced in less than 30 hours because nothing happens in a vacuum.

My Mad Platter art show reception had to be postponed and as disappointed as I am, this is not about me, or the show, but about an entire culture and way of life!  We're a resilient people and of course, can and will rebuild, but the loss of cultural treasures and property is great.  Nashville's Mayor Purcell estimates damage will exceed $1.5 billion.  The Opryland Hotel, with it's 2900 rooms, will not reopen until October or later, according to official sources. The tourism industry will take a great hit, and at a time when our country doesn't need an additional financial burden of this sort, FEMA will have to lay out funding to cover the damages of 27 Tennessee Counties which were declared Federal Disaster Areas.

I'm still just stunned that so much water could fall in such a short amount of time.  Sure, there was flash flooding predicted, but they were expecting what, four inches of rainfall?  Just shocking in its enormity.  And the speed with which it took place.  I recognize we were very fortuante, Bindy and I... The closure of I-24 did take one life.  A woman was stuck in her car as the highway flooded ever more and cars were unable to move in the traffic jam.  And a waiter from the restaurant where we stopped for lunch, returning home on foot after his shift, drowned in the floodwaters leaving behind two young sons. The tragedies all around us remind me how very fortunate we were.  Postponement of my art show's reception was nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Thankfully, now, a week later, the rivers have receded to below flood stage and my reception has been rescheduled.  Bindy won't be able to come back this time, and that's a huge bummer.  But on the other hand, Nashville is back from the brink and the destruction is behind us.

Reception Eve Excitement!

It's all taken care of, all we have to do is show up, but there's been some real drama here, caused by Mother Nature that may still cause problems. 

We've bought wine and other beverages expecting some 60-75 people and The Mad Platter is ready with catered food for that size.  Today, after enjoying the pitter patter of rain falling on the studio rooftop, Bindy (who flew down for the event) and I headed to the other side of Nashville to pick up Giclees we are selling at the show.  On the way, the car started hydroplaning because of all the rainfall we've had, so we pulled in and grabbed lunch halfway to our destination and consider our options.  Checking my IPhone's radar screen, I figured we were more than halfway through the rainfall, reckoning the storm front moved directly west to east. 

As we exited the restaurant and got back on the road, we turned our car toward Brentwood, where the Giclees were waiting for our pickup.  Just then David called saying they were predicting far more rainfall than the six inches we'd already received and we might have to cancel the event.  Ignoring his advice to turn around, we had no choice a minute later as a roadblock was set up to prevent any cars from going further toward Brentwood.  We turned back, bummed, and headed for I-24 just as we saw a pumper firetruck pumping floodwater from right near the ramp we were about to enter.  A car was already flooded out there and I was thankful they cleared enough floodwater away for us to get up onto the interstate.

We headed back home recognizing the situation was getting bad.  It got worse.  We went six miles on the interstate when we hit another roadblock.  This time, the entire Eastbound direction of Interstate 24, a major thoroughfare between Nashville and Atlanta, was shut down.  It was closed at exit 64 in LaVergne because floodwater had risen too high at the point the highway passed under the exit road.  We were about 12-15 vehicles from the front and realized we had just missed getting through before they shut it down.  We waited there, in the far right lane, for some two hours, listening to the radio announce tornado warnings, other flooding incidents, and accidents too.  We talked to David who was listening to his scanner.  We posted a picture on facebook and went on waiting.  About 2-1/2 hours into our "parking lot" wait, we turned and followed a few cars who were riding on the shoulder.  We had no clue where they were going but heard a rumor of a construction site and dirt road off the exit that would take one to a side road.  Good enough for us to try it.  As we got closer, I lost confidence.  There was a minivan stuck in the increasingly muddy passageway to the side road.  The mud was getting thicker with each vehicle that treked through it and my Ford Escape had poor wheels for this kinda riding.  Bindy urged me on.  I drove through, nonstop and only exhaled once I'd gotten to the side road.  We made it!   We managed to follow this side road and get back onto the interstate on the other side of the closed exit ramp. 

On we drove.  For another six miles until reaching our exit.  There, we saw more lights, diverted traffic.  Fortunately, my home is only 1/2 mile off the exit, so I knew we could walk it if we had to.  We could not turn toward home as the underpass was flooded and a truck that'd tried it earlier was stuck there already.  We pulled into the friendly McDonalds, selected a booth near the windows to see if there was any change in the situation and waited.  I had heard all the side roads were closed or closing in our town and knew it would be near impassable so gave up, thinking we'd have to stay the night at the cheap hotel nearby. 

Bindy would have none of it though and I suggested we scale the underpass wall to get to the other side.  It looked very dangerous and instead, we hit the steakhouse and awaiting Margaritas.  After talking to other locals stuck in a similar situation, we got our courage up and decided to go SouthEast on the highway to the next exit and turn around and try to get a back way home.  By the time we got to the ramp it, too was closed, as was the Eastbound highway even here now.  In the end, we parked the car at the McDonald's, and pocketing my IPhone and carkeys, we hiked across the Eastbound highway.  Traffic was still moving westbound and Bindy, who was wearing flip flops, had to take them off as it was clear we were going to have to run across the three lanes of highway traffic.  And it was coming!  No clear breaks in flow, but we managed it, screaming as we did.  I'm sure the sherriff's boys, parked at the Westbound Exit ramp to prevent unsuspecting travelers from trying to get off, thought we were idiots.  But we made it across.  We walked down to the base of the exit ramp and found ourselves standing in 30 inches of water.  At this point there was nothing to do but laugh.

So, we did.  Knee-slapping, tears rolling down our cheeks, we laughed our asses off!  It was just too deep to risk going further into the water, so we had to climb.  Up rocks, over brush, and through puddles of sludge and more, we made our way only to be halted by barbed wire.  We edged around it to a break and walked through to the interstate gas station on "our side" of the highway.  Phew!  I called David from there and he met us in an unflooded parking area right nearby. 

Now, I'm sitting here reflecting over a very eventful day, cozy and clean after a warm, soapy shower, glass of wine, and, after having seen some of the TV footage, a deep appreciation for Mother Nature's fury!