I hereby declare the second week in May 2026 as a week of learning experiences. I have learned more than I needed to. What happened you ask? A few things.
One. I ordered 5"x7" envelopes in this gorgeous sage colour for the Joyful Portal mail club. I also ordered 5"x7" clear sleeves for the artwork to slide into to protect them which will go int he envelope. That was my first mistake. Not only should I have ordered a 5.25" x 7.25" envelope, making it slightly larger BUT the sleeves came in larger than what was ordered. Only slightly but enough not to fit in the envelope, sadly. Fortunately, planning ahead as I do I was able to order a slightly larger envelope albeit in a different colour.
The second mishap, correction, - lesson, involved a new painting I created of dotted flowers in a mandala design. I was very happy with the outcome - until it came time to glazing. I selected a nice satin sheen and got my brush out to apply. Smudgy smeary messy mess mess ensued. The dots, although dry to the touch, were not dried thoroughly. Fortunately, this only affected about 6 of the flowers and a couple of leaves. As it was created in acrylic I was able to fix the smears and actually, in my humble opinion, improved upon the piece.
Finally, in my effort to make more space in my studio, I had a large painting fall and the corner of it tore a hole in one of the nearby smaller work-in-progress paintings which was one of my favourites (of course it was!). After doing research, I learned that dry-wall tape is acid-free so I will therefore attempt the repair using just this. It's white, strong, and mimics the look of canvas. The tear is in the bottom portion of the painting, in a place that is not particularly noticable so I am optimistically certain that it will work out well.
And we can add to this an error with the last email blog sent out "add and edit text here (or similar) was not intended to be part of the blog. A wonderful collector made mention of it to me (thank you!). Fortunately, it wasn't some saucy excerpt from an adult novel- although had it been it may have had a higher open rate.
What is the take away from all of this? Things happen for us, not to us. There were so many lessons to take away from these experiences. I could have gotten angry. Screamed even. Cried. But I did none of that. I've learned over the years to accept what happens, and when I can, fix it. If I can't fix it, I do what it takes to ensure it doesn't happen again. I have to remind myself, I'm not saving lives with my art (although I am saving homes from naked walls!). It's not the end of the world. And considering from the hundreds of paintings I've bought and sold, less than 5 have gotten damaged - none so badly they can't be repaired. That, to me, is an accomplishment. I am thankful not to have had more devastating things happen to my artwork. So many artists I've seen had major things happen (lost artwork in shipping, pouring paint accidently over near-finished canvases, spilling coffee on art etc).
My hope is that you too can find the lessons in every mishap that comes your way; whether it's patience, tolerance or understanding - I hope that you can give yourself grace in those unfortunate times of frustration and remember that tomorrow is a new - and magnificient day!
-Julie
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