# Opening night of local showing tonight! Eeek!



## squirrels (Jan 3, 2014)

I'm not really an aspiring professional, but I have been aspiring to put up my work and have people sitting under it drinking lattes and americanos. And thanks to a coffee shop that has always done an amazing job supporting local artists, I'm living the dream! 

Tonight is opening night, and I've just had the best time with this! :mrgreen:

What I learned from the hanging experience:
 It takes an awful lot of wire to get to eye level from the hanging rail.
Those little posts that printers offer to hold your metal prints pushed out the from wall would be worth it if your system is already keeping you from being flush with the wall so everything doesn't hang wonky like mine were. I had to go back and install some corrective measures today.
I love shiny metal prints in part because you have to shift around to see past the reflections (because, shiny)
Creating a test setup at home before going out to see how it would all look on the wall before the hanging was totally worth it.
I wish I'd had a bigger budget to cover more wall space (see the space above the uninterested guy below). 
No matter how big you print it, your going to want it bigger. Much bigger.

The audience for the hanging was very positive, and when I went back to resolve the wonky hanging situation, one of the guys from the shop said he was thinking about taking the whole installation home.


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## sm4him (Jan 3, 2014)

Wow, congratulations squirrel! This is definitely something I aspire to, I just don't have the money or confidence or sticktoitiveness to make it happen.



squirrels said:


> one of the guys from the shop said he was thinking about taking the whole installation home.



Did he mention anything about PAYING for it first?


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## lambertpix (Jan 3, 2014)

Congrats!  Very cool!


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## squirrels (Jan 3, 2014)

sm4him said:


> Wow, congratulations squirrel! This is definitely something I aspire to, I just don't have the money or confidence or sticktoitiveness to make it happen.



Oh my gosh, you totally should go for it! I'm not going to lie to you, the only way I had the cojones to try was because they have an online application process. I would totally drink lattes and stare at your work!



sm4him said:


> Did he mention anything about PAYING for it first?



Crap! I knew I was forgetting something. Plus just because he's a dude with a ladder and a T shirt with the logo of the place doesn't mean he works there. I'll probably show up tonight to empty walls! And I'd still just be excited that somebody liked it enough to steal it! :lmao:


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## Derrel (Jan 3, 2014)

Congratulations! I've admired your work on-line, and have been truly impressed with how well you work in that genre; you really do seem to have a knack for it, a gift. And I mean that most sincerely. WELL-DONE!


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## squirrels (Jan 3, 2014)

lambertpix said:


> Congrats! Very cool!



Thanks so much!!



Derrel said:


> Congratulations! I've admired your work on-line, and have been truly impressed with how well you work in that genre; you really do seem to have a knack for it, a gift. And I mean that most sincerely. WELL-DONE!




Thanks Derrel!

I have to say I'm super excited about it (or they gave me a double caf instead of a decaf while I was there).


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## vintagesnaps (Jan 3, 2014)

Congrats! The display looks really nice, I think you arranged them in an interesting pattern (and nothing looks wonky now!), to me it looks really sharp and professional.  

The white wall showcases the photos nicely but that brick wall is a visual train wreck! lol I hate to say, I thought at first glance something was dripping (roof leak?!) and for their coffee shop it probably makes sense to have an exposed brick wall but all that texture seems to overwhelm your photos (especially since they're natural brown and blue tones). Just for those I wonder if it would have helped to have mats (maybe really wide ones?!) to separate the photos visually. But it's only three photos and people will be viewing the rest of the display which you did beautifully. 

Good for you going for it! You should be proud of what you accomplished.


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## pjaye (Jan 3, 2014)

Congrats!! 



vintagesnaps said:


> Good for you going for it! You should be proud of what you accomplished.



This!


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## ronlane (Jan 3, 2014)

That's awesome, congrats.


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## squirrels (Jan 3, 2014)

vintagesnaps said:


> Congrats! The display looks really nice, I think you arranged them in an interesting pattern (and nothing looks wonky now!), to me it looks really sharp and professional.
> 
> The white wall showcases the photos nicely but that brick wall is a visual train wreck! lol I hate to say, I thought at first glance something was dripping (roof leak?!) and for their coffee shop it probably makes sense to have an exposed brick wall but all that texture seems to overwhelm your photos (especially since they're natural brown and blue tones). Just for those I wonder if it would have helped to have mats (maybe really wide ones?!) to separate the photos visually. But it's only three photos and people will be viewing the rest of the display which you did beautifully.
> 
> Good for you going for it! You should be proud of what you accomplished.



Dang! I wish I'd posted these shots before I went in to fix the wonkies today. You are right about that wall not doing any favors and I didn't even see it because I'm so enamored with the bricks. I could possibly have lowerred everything over there so it didn't look so isolated and to avoid having it look like my pictures were oozing. 

Maybe I will get there early enough to tweak it tonight. 

I have no idea if I'll need to be able to sound "arty" tonight. I had to rewrite my artist's statement about 17 times to cut out all of the fluffy "arteest" sounding crap. Now that I trimmed that to like 1.5 sentences, I'm not sure I have anything to say other that "Oh, do you like it? Because I really like it. I hope you like it too. Look! Shiny!!" Some part of me realizes that I'm over-loving this thing that people will only see in passing on their way to the caffeine, but I'm telling that part to shut it. :mrgreen:


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## mishele (Jan 3, 2014)

Awesome!!! So manny more to come!!


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## squirrels (Jan 3, 2014)

mishele said:


> Awesome!!! So manny more to come!!



:hug::

Your avatars never cease to amaze!


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## mishele (Jan 3, 2014)

squirrels said:


> :hug::
> 
> Your avatars never cease to amaze!



They get the creative juices flowing...don't they?!


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## squirrels (Jan 3, 2014)

I don't even...bwah!

You've done things like this before. Seriously, how artistically chatty did you have to be?


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## tirediron (Jan 3, 2014)

Well done!!!  Looks great.


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## binga63 (Jan 6, 2014)

Well done... I too aspire to have my work hung and ogled at while sipping lattes


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## EOV (Jan 6, 2014)

What everyone else said. That is very exciting! Just enjoy your time in the "limelight" and use it as inspiration to do more.


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## pgriz (Jan 6, 2014)

Congratulations on getting hung.  Um, you know what I mean.  I've enjoyed seeing your creativity - glad to see that you're sharing it with a wider community. :cheer:


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## squirrels (Jan 6, 2014)

Thanks you guys!! The opening was about 60 people who just wanted to buy a latte, 8 people who looked and chatted on their way to the coffee (4 of whom lifted and looked behind the pictures at the foam blocks I velcroed to the back to solve the wonky hanging problem ), 2 people who wanted to know what kind of camera I was using, 2 people who wanted to know who did my printing,  and 8 people who thought I was an artistic genius (all related or married to me or friends). 

My work stays up until March. All in all I'm super happy with the experience. 

If you are thinking about it, you should totally check around in your area and go for it. If nothing else it is a great kick in the pants to make you print your stuff. I'll have a whole stairway's worth of pictures to hang at home after this.


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## runnah (Jan 6, 2014)

I remember when squirrels was underground.


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## terri (Jan 6, 2014)

squirrels said:


> Thanks you guys!! The opening was about 60 people who just wanted to buy a latte, 8 people who looked and chatted on their way to the coffee (4 of whom lifted and looked behind the pictures at the foam blocks I velcroed to the back to solve the wonky hanging problem ), 2 people who wanted to know what kind of camera I was using, 2 people who wanted to know who did my printing,  and 8 people who thought I was an artistic genius (all related or married to me or friends).
> 
> My work stays up until March. All in all I'm super happy with the experience.
> 
> If you are thinking about it, you should totally check around in your area and go for it. If nothing else it is a great kick in the pants to make you print your stuff. I'll have a whole stairway's worth of pictures to hang at home after this.



That sounds wonderful!   I'm so happy it went well for you - I know how nervous you were.   Many, many weeks until March, so you may end up with fewer left to hang in the stairway than you think!    

Congrats on your achievement!


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