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Jill Rae, Blogging It

Running a gallery and moving forward my career as an artist is a work in progress, or at least it is for me. Some days are challenging, some are terrific, most are just another day of trying to do the next right thing. We opened the gallery in 2017, and I say "we" because I couldn't have done it without my husband, Mark who has done most of the building improvements on his own. It has been wonderful getting to work here five days a week. What an adventure!

I run the gallery alone. That will explain why sometimes I open a little bit late or close when I'm off visiting my grandson. I never want the gallery to become overwhelming. In the six years we have been open, I'm pleased to say it hasn't been. In the past, I've tried different ways of staying in touch with people, the latest was my attempts at doing live videos on my Facebook page. Somehow the internet connection always got lost and the experience was frustrating for me and whoever was tring to watch it.

So I'm returning to blogging. Although, is this really blogging if I just write on a page on my web? The plan is to write a bit each week about what is happening in the gallery, what's happening with my art ... all the triumphs and struggels... with the occasional misspelled word and poor grammer. Okay, there will be several misspelled words and poor attempts at grammer. If I write perfectly, I'll never write. I'm choosing to do what I always do; try my best, learn along the way and hope it all works out.

Jill Rae, Blogging It 12/5/23

The holiday season is in full swing with community programs and many opportunities for artists to be seen and get their work seen. It's a mistake many artists make to assume that their work can stand on it's own with little salesmanship from the artist. They may feel that it's the job of the gallery or the venue to promote them, and it is to an extent. But, no one can sell art as well as the person who made it. All through out my life I saw the power of just showing up and the opportunities that presented themselves because i did. This is no different. So when you're asked to participate in a program consider it. The game of art is to get as many people as possible to see your work and for your work to make an impression on those people. Nothing makes an impression quite as much as meeting someone in person and finding the story behind a piece.

Artists Sunday was November 26th. The gallery hosted an art party . We didn't have a huge turn out but we did enjoy spending a relaxing afternoon painting with those who did show up. We started a community painting that we decided was titled" A December Wedding in Rockton" It's not finished yet but it was fun just watching people come up with ideas. I'll post more as it develops.

And lastly, I'd like to announce that I will be doing a 30 in 30 in January. It's the goal to paint, draw, create some artwork each day for 30 days. There are no rules so if I can't do it one day it's okay. It's just I'd like to really try to paint more and January can be a very slow month in the gallery freeing me up for painting. Anyone interested in joining me?

Jill Rae, Blogging It 11/18/23

And then I fell hard....
I guess the with way the neuropathy was making me unstable, it was bound to happen. I hurt my left knee and shoulder and was out of the gallery for 4 days. I started back last Tuesday and Samantha was nice enough to come to the gallery for the first three days and help me. I'm on my own now, using a cane, and moving really slowly. The first word that comes to mind is fear. Fear that I will fall again and hurt myself even more. Fear that I won't recover. It's been a week and when I say slow.... yep, I am. Fear that I won't be able to keep up with the gallery at this pace. All the crazy things that go through your mind. So, I feel I need to be proactive here and join the local wellness center that has heated pools for aerobics and water walking etc., and talk to my doc and my knee doc etc.

I often think about if I could just turn the clock back 30 years on my knees. Just think about all the shows I could participate in, all the classes and things I could do around the gallery. It's a silly dream. And then yesterday I realized, hey thirty years ago my girls were young, too young to leave home alone. I was learning about recreational programing as the Superintendent of a small park district. Many of the things I learned at that time has helped my with programing activities and festivals for the gallery. I was the Girl Scout Leader to two troops. And oh, I was going to have a son in two years. Thirty years ago I had neither the time or the money for the gallery. Just saying...

As I finally got back to painting yesterday, I had to clean up a bit of a mess from a spill I had last time I was at my painting table. A few of my photos had gotten wet and I went through the pile to throw them out. I noticed my color wheel was destroyed and stuck together, unable to salvage. Then I flipped it over and found this fortune from my last lunch at Happy Wok. I thought it was fitting as I dreamed of better knees and a pain-free shoulder. "Grab the wheel of change to steer your life towards your desired destination." Heated pool, here I come!

Samantha designed the flowerbeds Infront of the gallery.

I started working on a painting that I had started before Mark had his surgery a month ago. As I sat down to work my first thought was how was I going to do this? I was so excited when I started it. Sometimes fear and self doubt are all around us. I went back to my old standard," lights and darks" and some beautiful colors and all should be well. I quickly got back into it. It's a bench on our back deck. It was a beautiful Fall day and the crab apples and leaves were falling all around. I was just about to sweep off this bench when I noticed what I thought was a really interesting composition. So often I see things that just seem to talk to me, "Go get your camera. You need to paint me." This is my W.I.P.

Jill Rae, Blogging It 11/9/23

Wow! It's been awhile since I've written in the blog. There's so much to tell.

First, have you ever thought about those wonderful professors that made a real impact in your life. Where are they today? I was talking to a guild friend of mine about those who influenced us early in life. There were three professors at U of I that still to this day, I hold on to their words of encouragement on the days I need a little boost. They are Edward Betts who was a watercolorists who taught me oils, Roger Blakley who was a sculptor but taught life drawing, and Jerry Savage a painter and sculptor, who taught a drawing class. All three of these men loved art so much that I felt I could not do any less than my best for them. After about 43 years, I looked them up. The first, two are no longer with us but Jerry Savage is still in Champaign. I was thrilled to find many of his works and words on the internet. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XBBGaCKCXA I watched some of his videos and felt reinspired by him all over again. Am I still giving my best everyday? Well not always.

I decided to write him and let him know that after 43 years I still think of him and draw on his words. I didn't expect him to remember me, I was a 20 year old under graduate who was unsure of myself and had a bit of an attitude. But I loved art and hid how important it was to me, just incase it turned out I wasn't very good. He did respond to me and was grateful to hear that he made an impact. Of course, he didn't know who I was but that wasn't important. I loved his words as he wrote, "Eventually I concluded that the identification of one’s core is the North Star. In the process of identifying one’s core, one needs to be non critical, curious and courageous. One’s core contains the beauty of the cosmos. Once contact is made with the core, the beauty of life is seen. In these revelations purpose of life is established. Meaning, beauty and discovery is everywhere. Life is a gift." So I compel you to take a risk and reach out to someone who inspired, helped or was just kind at a time you needed kindness. See what happens.

The gallery has always been a work in progress first starting with a little storefront that was 11' by 18' to an expanded gallery, then the classroom last December and now our signage. This has been a long time coming and we are thrilled to have our name proudly displayed on this wonderful building that was built in 1845.

It's so impressive that Mark was able to install the sign. He just got his second new hip less than 4 weeks ago. His journey started July 3rd with his first hip. It has taken him awhile, and there's still some to go but he is doing wonderfully and is looking forward to all the projects and activities he will be able to do now, including playing trains with David, our grandson.

The gallery is ready for the Christmas season. We just had a very successful Jingle Bell ROCKton weekend and look forward to to the activities in the coming weeks starting with Small Business Saturday where most of the downtown shops will be passing out beads or charms so you can make a bracelet. Our charm is a painter's palette.

The following day, Sunday November 26th is Artists Sunday where we will be celebrating art from 12 to 4pm with some of the gallery artists who will be doing demos or available to talk with you. We will also be doing a community painting which we hope you will add your marks to the canvas. Please come and join us, have some fun, see some art and possible support a local artist by purchasing one of their pieces.

So as you can see, we've been busy. My neuropathy continues to be a bit of a problem. The medication has helped a bit with the electrical shocks but I continue to have numbness, tingling and other sensations in my legs and back. It has made me feel very off balance. This has been a bit of a problem with getting the gallery ready for the season but my daughter Samantha has been a great help. I feel like I'm tripping a lot but am told that in time I will get use to it and walk more steady.

I haven't been painting much lately. This is a problem and as I find myself a bit bummed with my current state I know that painting will help raise my spirits. So I plan to spend the rest of the afternoon painting. And I have decided to do a 30 in 30 in January. I put the challenge up to the Rockfort Art Guild and have a feel takers. Would you like to join us? I will post more information later.

Jill Rae, Blogging It 10/18/23

Art Scene has come and gone. To the left is a picture of my wall. You will notice all the holes in the wall. We do Art Scene in the old abandoned building right by the Coronado Theater. Well, the first floor is occupied. But the upstairs has these huge empty rooms just waiting for someone to bring them back to life. The stairway, woodwork and stained glass on this building is magnificent. I believe it housed an insurance company at one time. I love the old buildings of Rockford, the craftmanship, the artistry. These are all things that are no longer affordable to do in today's world. But luckily they still exsist, if we can just preserve these wonderful buildings.

I've been away from the gallery for a week. Mark got his second hip replacement a week ago. He is doing well and looking forward to the time he can once again climb ladders and preform rehap miracles like he has in the past.

I am reminded how wonderful it is to have the gallery to go to. Don't get me wrong, staying at home was fine, watching movies and catching up on some book work. And I can get pretty lazy if allowed. But I am someone who thrives best at having a schedule. So after a week of talking about pain levels and noticing I have some of my own, All of a sudden I have neropathy in my feet. - So fun, I started to feel a bit lost. I knew getting back in the gallery would fix that for me, and it has.

Even though it's not Halloween yet, we are preparing for Christmas . I am painting two new Nutcrackers for the front of the gallery. And although this doesn't take much mind work it's just perfect for me right now. I love the act of brushing paint on a surface. I find it relaxing. So here I am, I've completed some work today; got the newsletter out, wrote this, sent out a few emails etc. Now, I just get to relax and enjoy the rest of the afternoon smearing some paint on wood. How delicious!

Jill Rae, Blogging It 10/3/2023

After a busy weekend away, I'm back in the gallery. I had a lovely morning class with a group from CLR (center for learning in retirement). After cleaning up, it's now time to focus on this coming weekend. We have two wonderful events this Friday and Saturday; Vintage Shop Hop in the gallery and Fall Art Scene in Rockford. I will be showing with the Rockford Art Guild at 304 Main. It's the same block that the Coronado theater is on. During the pandemic all the art shows stopped, like everything else. It's been difficult to get back into the habbit of doing shows. I'm a few years older now and lugging around my artwork has become harder.

There was a period when I stopped doing shows all together. I have a gallery, what do I need shows for? I couldn't have been more wrong. It's important for an artist to keep putting their work out within the art community. It's vital to get your name out there so people recognize it in the various shows that they attend.

For this Art Scene, I gave myself the goal of showing nothing but oil paintings. I just returned to the medium this summer after, lets say 40 years. I have really enjoyed it. I forgot how much I love the smells and consistency of oils. I had forgotten how wonderful it is to blend colors together right on the canvas as one color transforms into another. I also forgot how long it takes to dry, so I find myself working on several paintings at a time. Not wanting to limit myself, I'm giving myself a year to just paint and explore and work developing my own style.

At the guild we are each allowed 6 feet of wall space. As I painted each piece I vacilated over showing each one. Is this painting good enough? One day it was, the next day it wasn't. One in particular caused me quite a bit of problems - the cosmos. That was the painting that I swore at and stormed out of the gallery one day. (No one was around to hear my rant.) I decided to put it in the show as it demonstrates where I am at this point in time.

This morning one of the women in my class told me they just loved the painting. Well there you go, you never know do you? You just keep on going. I'm calling this piece, "Letting Go".

Jill Rae, Blogging It 9/21/2023

The busy season is just about to start in the gallery. We have four classes starting this week -they're taught by other artists. Then we get into the Vintage Shop Hop and The Fall Art Scene in Rockford both the first weekend of October. The following week I will teach an alcohol class for CLR. That will be followed by Mark's hip replacement surgery in the middle of the week. After that, everything takes off as we race through the Holidays.

I've been aware of trying to balance things out a bit more and to really focus on my priorities. That's not always clear but I became aware that I was painting much less than I used to. I mean, what's the point if I'm not doing my artwork, right? So, it finally occured to me to set up a perminent painting spot in what will one day be our kitchenette. This allows me to transition my art back to oil painting and to do a bit each day... or most days. The problem is that I've really loved it and have been spending quite a bit of time painting and not doing other things. The gallery traffic has been pretty slow lately so that works out okay. My goal is to preview my return to oils at this year's Art Scene. It's been going okay. I've struggled a bit with having to wait for the oils to dry so I have several paintings going on at once. All of the paintings seem to be cooperating except for one painting... I actually swore at it as I was leaving the gallery one day. (It was just us two around so no one heard me.) Have you had paintings like that? Are they there to annoy you or teach you something as you push through it to resolve the issues? I think this one has something to teach me. And to be honest, I'm hoping to put this in art scene but it's not clear the paint will be dry. I'm appling it with palete knives so it's thick.

So what am I doing this week? Totally playing around. I need a painted pumpkin to give away at Vintage Shop Hop so I'm painting Halloween in acrylics. What can I say? Hoping to put some serious painting time tomorrow. Sometimes I just can't help myself.