A New Venture

Robin Agnew

I know this portion of the blog is by me, about me, but usually it's more about my business, something that in a way I can hold at a comfortable remove.  It's about the store or about books I really like, not about me per se.  But I have something coming up this week I need to write about, as it's an exciting opportunity and at the very least a memorable weekend for me, my mother and sister.

I have always been a painter, just as many people have always been writers, published or not.  Many years ago I sold my watercolors at art fairs around the state, but then I had a second baby and we opened the store and painting fell by the wayside.  I never actually stopped painting, though for a few years I switched to colored pencil on the advice of a fellow artist who told me that's what he did when his children were small.

Over the years I was able to keep my hand in a bit - a friend for awhile owned her own ad agency in Mississippi, and we did some really fun projects together, notably for a lovely (now closed) heirloom sewing store called The Corner Stitch.  Jim Huang has been nice enough to allow me to do a few book covers for him, which has also been fun.  I also just kept on painting, sending out samples to greeting card companies and print companies and getting some nice responses - even a phone call once - but no offers.

So, this fall, turning 50 felt like time to maybe give this up.  I was going to visit my mother for the weekend and a friend of hers wanted some paintings to give as gifts - I was at the point where I was ready to give them away to someone who would enjoy them.  I took my portfolio up north with me, and my mother intercepted it.  She said she loved them and wanted to show them to a friend of hers.  To tell the truth, I forgot about it, as my expectations had become fairly low.

Imagine my surprise when I got a phone call a few weeks later and found that her friend was married to a gallery owner in New York - and he liked them so much he wanted to put them in a show!  So, next Thursday, December 4, my watercolors will be on display at Michael Steinberg Fine Arts in New York.  It's a show of contemporary women artists who work on paper - I'm filling the representational slot.  The show is called "Back to the Drawing Board".  I'm not sure how my paintings of rabbits wearing shoes are going to fit, but along with my mother and sister, I'm looking forward to finding out.  If you're in New York the month of December, doing a little gallery hopping, check it out yourself - and wish me luck!