Margaret Rose Vendryes in front of the Child’s Gallery, 169 Newbury Street, Boston

This week I went to two great shows by friends of mine. The first, Ginny Zanger’s show at the Copley Society in Boston, and just across the street, Margaret Vendryes at the Childs Gallery.

I’m totally happy for both of them and wish them a bucketful of red dots (symbol for Sold!) for the show.

I have been in other businesses where support is not necessarily the default. But when I entered the art world, I was greeted with support, advice (helpful and needed), and friendship.

We’ve all had our ups and downs. Rejections that don’t seem to make sense. Slow or no sales at a busy show. A passerby who says just the wrong thing at the wrong time.

It’s true, someone has actually said to me, “my kid could do that.” Luckily, I was with other artists who laughed out loud when they heard it.

I belong to a group of artists that meets once a month and we have watched each other move forward and progress. But as important, we have been the support group when the times have been tougher. I don’t believe that it is easy to quantify who is your “competition” in the art world. What strikes one person as awesome one day may not even work for the same person on the next day. I generally prefer not to be with too many other watercolorists, but actually, that doesn’t really make sense as some of my best shows are in groups with 4 or 5 other watercolorists. My work is different enough, I try not to worry about it too much. Maybe if they were all painting ice….

I hope that if you’re nearby, you get the chance to see both of these shows on Newbury Street in Boston. And if you have the inclination and the income, buy something! You can never have too much art on your walls, right?

Ginny Zanger at the Copley Society – 158 Newbury Street, Boston