When one door closes...

Poppies - 6x6 acrylic on canvas
(this is not the painting I entered into the competition)

Late Wednesday morning I got the dreaded e-mail letting me know that my painting was not accepted into the State Fair Fine Arts show. The subject line said it all, simply stating "2009 Fine Arts-Non-Accepted Works". It's disappointing, but not completely unexpected (just not hoped for!).

Friday morning I joined the many other artists who were "non-accepted". Waiting in line, I got to see some of the work picked up before me...it's amazing the quality of the work that wasn't accepted...it's humbling and consoling, in a sense.

But when one door closes, another one opens...

I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to enter my painting into the Hopkins Salon 300 show--an exhibit of work that didn't make it into the State Fair exhibit. The Hopkins Art Center sponsors this now-annual exhibit and calls it "Salon 300". I jokingly call it "The Reject Show"... but, hey, it's another opportunity to hang my painting in a gallery. Why not?

And not even 5 minutes after receiving the "non-accepted" e-mail about the State Fair show, I received another e-mail about another, even better opportunity. I can't say what it is yet (don't want to jinx it!), but it's good...very, very good.

Good things are happening!