I swore I wouldn’t make anymore physical art…I lied.

I blame it on my mother

Release Your Expectation: mixed media collage by Dave Conrey

There I was, standing in a gallery during an opening, chatting with friends and my Mom, all of who had art on the walls. I also had a piece on display that I made reluctantly because I happened to be one of the show organizers, and I felt it was necessary to participate.

While standing close to my piece, talking with friends and Mom, one of the gallery workers walk over and put a 🔴 on the tag of my work. If you assumed I would be happy about that, you’d be mostly right.

I was thoroughly stoked and surprised that someone bought my piece, but a small part of me knew that this meant others would expect me to make more, and I wasn’t wrong.

A few moments later, Mom congratulated me on being the first piece sold in the show. Then she followed it up by telling me she wanted to take part in the Long Beach Open Studio Tour and asked if I would do it with her.

Sidebar: Mom happens to live in a back unit on our property and we share the backyard and patio area.

Almost as if she knew the euphoric feeling of selling art would have me at a disadvantage, I said yes. I wasn’t sure what that meant at that moment, but the commitment was made.

And of course, me being me, I can’t do things simply.

‘We choose to do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard.’ - John F. Kennedy

Instead of selling some of the art I already had available, and making a few more pieces between now and the event, I decided I was going to make a hundred new pieces because I like big, round numbers.

I’m Falling Behind

The thing is, I’ve got a lot of other things going on and it’s cutting into my studio time. I am efficient enough to be working on several pieces at once, but I’m a little behind at the moment.

The world’s not going to stop if I don’t finish all one-hundred pieces, but I’m still aiming for that because it’s way cooler to say you finished 100 than it is to say you did 83.

By the end of this, I’ll have an entirely new body of work, and a whole new art experience to share with others. I also see that even in the few weeks of working, there are new developments and motifs happening.

Now I’m not delusional, I don’t believe I will sell all 100 pieces during the event (which is why I have them in my shop - hint hint), but maybe selling them isn’t the only goal.

Yes, I would love to sell them all, but maybe money isn’t the only way to earn from them. The money will come and go, but what sticks is the experience, and that’s something I get to share now and forever.

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DaveConrey.com is back after a short hiatus. It’s a new space with all new work, and I’ll be sharing everything I make there. Go check out what’s new in the shop—maybe you’ll find something you’d love to put on your walls so you can share now and forever.

Cheers,

Dave