the opening

Last evening we had a full house - and a great mix of old and new faces.  The Gadjo Playboys, as always, didn't disappoint - the music was fabulous!  We sold Ned Wert's "Lessons for the Soothsayer", 60" x 48" acrylic on canvas.  It only arrived home this past fall after gracing the Embassy in Macedonia for two years.   The Ambassador found the piece on our website after it's debut in a solo show of Ned's work in 2005, and personally requested it for the collection.  I found the Arts in the Embassy program to be thoroughly professional, well organized and the work was picked up, packaged and shipped on both ends of it's journey with meticulous care.   The purchasers of the work have several of Ned's pieces, but this one will certainly be the prize in their collection!  I'm thrilled for them, as I know how I've delighted in living beside the work myself.  The energy in that painting - and the color - so bold and delicious! http://www.lyndengallery.com/wert%20embassy.html

I was thrilled to cross paths with Gary Butson Thursday, and find him ready to dig out his studio and get back to painting after a three year hiatus.  At my urging, he agreed to bring in his palette and some unfinished work, along with a few small pieces so I could include him in the exhibition.  Truth be told, his palette was the one that started me thinking about putting together this whole event.  It's tiers of oil color, like stalagmites rising from the floor of a cave were several inches high, with a cleared pool of glass shimmering beside them for mixing.  It was art in itself!  He said someone offered him $500 for it, but he wouldn't part with it.  It's on exhibit, sans cobwebs, a red dot on his painting, "Grapes".  Jackson, Gary's three-year old son, loved the whole scene, and we were successful in selling another piece or two.

After the musicians packed up to leave, the crowd began to thin.  Several of us walked down the street to the Wachhaus residence at the invitation of Eve and Aaron.   Eve, true to form, had prepared a delicious repast of fresh tomato soup, quinoa salad, and baked potato fingers, with artichokes, olives, cheeses, dried cranberries and hearty bread on the side.  I realized when I sat down we had been so busy I hadn't had a bite or nibble the whole opening.  On arriving, Roger started telling me a story about the old Victorian house as we came up on the porch.  Inside, they greeted each other like old friends, and I found to my surprise the Wachhaus family had purchased their circa 1900 Victorian sofa from Roger!  Stories ensued, Roger sharing images of his kids sitting on that sofa 20 years ago on Christmas Eve, and Eve spoke of a painting she had done of her children on the sofa more recently.   

I sat in their parlor surrounded by old friends and new acquaintances talking art, dogs, and a myriad of other light-hearted subjects, laughing and relishing the success of the evening.  All the talk of the down economy of late had been waring on me, and I had declared to myself it simply meant I had to work harder and smarter - I will have none of such pessimism.  The evening ended with a pleasant walk back down Market Street with Roger, Andy, Tom and Don.  As we approached the corner to cross the street, we heard a man yelling at the passing cars.  Up ahead, half a block or so, he staggered down the street, so inebriated he couldn't even stay on the sidewalk.  As I called 911, fearing the poor soul would stumble into the street and get hit by a car, I watched him go down hard on the sidewalk.  I ran ahead to find him out cold, just as the police pulled up, his whiskey bottle sticking out of his back pocket and his glasses tumbled from his nose.  The cops seemed to know him. 

There are more such people downtown than I could have ever imagined, having grown up just around the corner, in the safety of my childhood home on College Avenue.  I never thought I'd stay in Elizabethtown all my life, let alone, live downtown in the old Fire Hall!  I woke this morning in the front room - the room where the firemen slept - ever more aware of my blessings.  And more certain than ever, of my desire to give back to this community in whatever way I can.