The opening of my solo exhibit “misremembrance” in the Gallery at the Art & Music Library on Saturday was great fun! It was certainly worth all the work that went into it. The photos below show the gallery ready for the opening.

The brown paint was the perfect background for the series of paintings based on my Mom’s reference photos of my sister and me as small children. The white wall worked for the triptych of “Paige Loved to Dance”.

Edmund and I set up the yummy vegetarian and meat lover’s Open Face sandwich trays, little bottles of water and the wine. The CDs of 1950’s Greatest Hits were playing as we sat and waited for the first arrivals. I didn’t immediately recognize the first woman who walked in, because I wasn’t expecting my sister Betsy to fly in from Virginia to surprise me. And she was wearing the red cowboy boots she bought for the occasion!

The tripytch painting, “Betsy Had Red Cowboy Boots” was the image I used on my exhibit postcard. I had sent it to her when she told me she wouldn’t be able to make the opening. What fun to have the subject of most of the paintings actually there and wearing red cowboy boots bought to match her painting for the opening.

It was also fun to have our granddaughter Paige, the model for “Paige Loved to Dance” come with her Mom, Dad, sister and brother to see the paintings of herself.

My cousins came from Rochester and Syracuse. Cousin Jean brought her son, my cousin Brandon, as a surprise guest. He is the Wine Maker at Red Newt Winery and always lots of fun. A long time friend David came from Detroit as well as other Rochester friends, Gwenn and Terry, Ann and Will, Axel and Diane. And what a delight to see Nicki my EMT/painting friend again. My painting teacher Heather Layton and professors Grace Seiberling and Allen Topolski stopped by.

This photo of cousin Nancy from Syracuse sums up how everyone seemed to feel, especially me.

With wonderful memories I’m off to finish a couple of thank you paintings for my painting mentor Heather and department chairman Allen. Without all I learned from them and years of asking me to push my work beyond what it was, this exhibit wouldn’t have happened. Many, many thanks to them.