Last night was the artist reception for the show.  It was pretty good.  Different from last year.  Different vibe.  I didn’t invite a shitload of people and really, aside from W and myself, only one person I invited showed up (thanks, T!). But I wasn’t disappointed by that.  I mean, if you’ve seen one of my drawings, you’ve pretty much seen them all.

And as T tells me, the nature of my invite email made it seem like the same pieces - the portraits of my grandparents - from last year were in the show this year - which is why R opted not to attend. Oops.  I just meant it was the same type of show. Not that the same pieces were in it. My bad. Heh.

Still, it was a pretty positive experience. My drawings were well received - both by my peers and otherwise.  In fact, I had a complete stranger come up to me and tell me that my work was “beautiful and stunning” and she would “love to have a drawing like that in her home.” As an artist, you can’t get much higher praise than that.

The highlight of the evening was seeing a couple of my instructors. They seldom show up for such things, but this year they were invited to include self-portraits - probably as a means of getting them to attend. Two of ‘em showed up for a few minutes - likely just prior to classes they were teaching that evening. It was swell to see Steven. Though, I didn’t actually speak to him, just snarled at him jokingly as I passed him. Ivy was also there, but I didn’t get a chance to talk to her before she flitted away.  She always flits.  I must remember to email her. By the way, her self-portrait(s) were beautiful!

This year, it seemed like the work was a lot higher quality.  Not to say the work last year was awful or anything. But it felt very much like a student show. This year? Not so much. That was awesome.

I took some photos. Hopefully, I can post them soon.