a little help from my friends....

My dear friends! I woke up this morning to an inbox full of messages of caring and support! Thank you, I love that so many of you took time to share my pain and then send lovely words expressing your admiration for my art and encouraging me to keep going. I have tears pouring down my face at the moment. There are so many of you whom I know are "out there" but I haven't heard from for perhaps years....thankyou for letting me know you understand and care about my despondency.

Do not worry - I'm not clinically depressed or anything terrible like that! - just going through a spell when I feel the world is either indifferent or negative to my art. Because so many of you are creatives yourselves, I imagine many are nodding sagely and have experienced being in this place yourselves - which seems to me like just treading water with one nostril above it and feeling like the life raft is too full to bother picking me up....!

Honestly, I'm just too emotionally exhausted after taking that blow in the guts after being rejected by the Hunt and Gather Markets (they took 2 hours to assess and reject my emailed application) to go into the 10 year travail of how I've tried to get into a good Newcastle based monthly market. Except to make these brief comments that over 10 years the 6 applications I made to the Olive Tree Market, the other quality curated event, have also been rejected on the nebulous basis that I "don't fit". This can only be because my "product" is the wrong look, as on every other basis of being hand made and artist designed I exceed the criteria. Somebody once intimated that my stall set-up looked a bit messy and uncoordinated....but sheeeesh! everything I make is one-of-a-kind! I don't manufacture 25 beige skirts,18 brown jackets and 20 white shirts that hang on rails with their hems matching in beautiful minimalist perfection....

Dear friends, I will be fine, and I've truly had much worse disappointments!...and in reality, its hard to stay in the shit for more than 48 hours in a row, unless you really work on keeping yourself in the toilet bowl....heh. But the lovely heartfelt support and reach out so many of you have given is helping me understand I can put this minor set back behind me quickly and keep moving forward doing the work I love and that gives my life purpose and meaning.

Meantime - has anyone got any suggestions for an urban based gallery/shop/market in the Newcastle/Maitland area that would be happy to take some of my "product" on commission....?