My ego has taken a bit of a knock this past weekend! I’ve always boasted I don’t have much of an ego and so I am a little ashamed to say this but in the spirit of good and honest blogging I need to share this with you.

You see ever since I was selected for the Brighton Art Fair earlier this year I have been on a bit of a trip. I do like juried selections to art shows, competitions and exhibitions because it validates my abilities as an artist. I don’t always get selected when I apply  and that adds to the enigma but when I do get chosen, well all I can say is that it strokes my ‘non-existent’ ego no end.

At the Brighton Art Fair (c) Anne Blankson-Hemans

Anyway as I was saying, I was selected and I duly arrived and set up. The show for me was fantastic, loads and loads of people flowed through the doors over the four day period and loads and loads of interest but alas no sales!

I shouldn’t really be upset about the lack of sales,  you kinda learn to take the rough with the smooth but there is something that passes between you the artist and the beholder also known as the buyer which my friend Amy described in a previous blog as ‘some kind of magic’ and regardless of what anyone says that magic consists in the main of about 80% ego I think.

So after the euphoria of the weekend I crashed big time. I’ve been disconsolate bordering almost on depression. I say this honestly and only fleetingly because it is not a place in which I like to dwell. So with some ‘birthday’ money from Seiwa and seriously strict instructions to spend it only on myself, I went shopping and here is what I brought back; dark chocolate: sumptuous orange, dark chocolate with Wasabi; dark chocolate with chilli and from my beloved Ghana Divine dark chocolate with ginger and orange!!! My chocolate heaven included a movie courtesy of Virgin Media.

When only chocolate will do!

Now that my ego has been placated I have been able to focus on all the good things from this weekend’s show; the gallery owner who likes my snow paintings and wants me to join her gallery, the online gallery owner who wants me to join her site, the community art exhibition that is taking place in Brighton this weekend and the loads and loads and loads of email contacts I can add to my mailing list and I guess above all the comments I received; here are some of them…

‘great impact!’, splendid colours’, ‘great technique and use of colour’ , ‘beautiful creations’, ‘such gorgeous colours’, ‘colour, life, composition, you’ve got it all’, ‘beautiful and vibrant’,

and my personal favourite…

‘very bright and colourful art which made me feel happy!’

This morning my Bible word for today was – The Secret of Fulfilment – Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 – There is a time for everything, a time to weep and a time to laugh and I guess a time to sell paintings and a time to show them… so everyone feels happy!

Te Deum Laudamus