Thursday, December 10, 2009

On Being Flexible

Last week at this time I was rushing to finish up some fabric artwork for our town's Holiday Stroll. My display was to go in the large window in an empty storefront next to a day spa. I had permission to arrange my display in any way I chose, and I discussed with the owner hanging a drapery in the window and pinning my wall hangings to it.
The afternoon before the Stroll, I packed up everything and set out to hang my work. When I arrived, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw all the windows painted with elves and snowmen!! The high school studentshad done this throughout the town and had painted "my" windows too! (through a miscommunication).
Although I was disappointed, I went home, sewed loops on the top corners of my pieces, bought suction cups and came back the next morning with my daughter and we hung my work amidst the frolicking elves!!


I love the way the snowman is looking at my picture of the snow scene with the little boy!

 

"Carmelina" is looking down on a little elf!



This poor elf is the victim of condensation dripping down the window!
My floral hanging wasn't affected.

Things don't always turn out the way we expect them to, but there can be laughs in being flexible!

Here are my friend Janice's Advent ATCs for December 8, 9 and 10.
Click on the photo to view them close up.


I love every one of them!!

10 comments:

Beena said...

your work still shines, even amongst the elves!

Libby Fife said...

Lemons and lemonade! Your work looks great and that was some quick (and positive) thinking:)

Nan and =^..^= said...

Wow, What a shock that must have been but you came up with a great plan B!
That is so true in life, we have to be flexible for things don't always go the way we plan and it's always good to have a Plan B or C etc.!

Karen L R said...

well done, judy! and your work looks just right, despite the snafu!

Judy Hartman said...

Thank you, friends - Plan B didn't occur to me instantly. I had help figuring it out from my husband and daughter - my "team"!!!

Carrie P. said...

I am sure that was a surprise but you made it works and your works look great in the windows.

quiltcat said...

It wasn't what you had in mind, but the window display ended up being very whimsical and cute...glad you and your team came up with such a great "plan B."

Simone said...

Your work stands out despite the elves. Quality will always shine through!!!x

Cathy said...

Hi Judy,

I absolutely love your display, and what a great idea. I belong to a local sewing guild, and we're trying to expand our membership. I think that displaying our work in a emply storefront window would be a great way get folks interested in our group. Did you contact your chamber of commerce, landlord or realtor? Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated. I'm in charge of membership in my group.

Judy Hartman said...

Hi Cathy,
I didn't find a link to you so I'm going to answer here and hope you come back to read it.
Our town just started an Arts Council in 2009, including performance,musical and visual arts. As part of the visual arts group, I helped set these exhibits up for painters and quilt artists. We went through the chamber of commerce and downtown business association. We first visited stores to see who would be willing to let us use space. Some banks with large lobbies were generous with space also. We wrote down dimensions of space available and matched spaces to artists. One merchant with an empty store actually donated it for an evening so that we could use it as a gallery. We were very careful to clean up any areas we used so that we might be able to do this again in the future.
Hope this helped.
Judy