A Time for Firsts

One reason I got into the wonderful world of art quilting was the ease of exhibiting the work.  Or, more to the point, the ease of shipping the work.  The idea of crating and shipping framed works intimidated me, and folding a large scale quilt is much easier, even with one like this which measures 62" x 76".  I wasn't sure how I would ship a framed painting, but with my change of media, it was time to finally learn.

This became a pressing necessity when two of my new paintings were accepted into the West Virginia Arts and Crafts Guild show.  While I could hand deliver the work to the initial venue, the Parkersburg Art Center, they needed to be crated for shipment to and from the second venue.

Fortunately the pieces, while larger than the paintings from my last post, were still small enough to fit into the boxes that are available at FedEx.  For less than $30 I had two boxes to crate my work.  But another challenge lay ahead.

Another factor I had neglected to take into account was that the paintings fit into my car just fine, but the larger of the crates did not.  (Add to the list for next year: source a larger vehicle).  I had two options: put the crates together at my daughter's house and walk the crated work to FedEx, or put the crates together on site at the Parkersburg Art Center.  For this show, I chose the second option. 

Delivery was easy and went well, and I was proud to see my boxes in the staging area with the other boxes containing work for the show.  I had finally broken through the fear of the shipping crate and was entering a new world of exhibiting my work. 

Presenting, my first juried paintings:

"Eclipse"  Acrylic and mixed media on canvas.  30" x 24"

"Batik Moon" Acrylic on canvas.  30" x 30"