Embarrassing moments...

"The Deep" - Oils, acrylic, colored pencil on paper. 5" x 7" .
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Your barn door is open. Yeah. A couple of weeks ago I thought I had closed my art blog to viewers, yet when I went to 'clean' it up and add more work, I discovered that it had remained open all along, the only thing I had closed was comments. (No wonder my stats have crashed, I've scared people away!) The little piece shown above is part of my daily exercise, stuff I do when I'm not working on a major piece - fun things to sell on the cheap.
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I have always done stupid, thoughtless things that embarrass me... the embarrassment usually doesn't last of course, and I eventually see the humor in it, and benefit (I hope) from the lesson learned.
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Did anyone watch The Office this past Thursday? Michael quit you know. I swear the writers for that show know me - because the way Michael quit is very close to how and why I quit my last job. I know! So if you're asking yourself, "Is Terry nuts?!" I will answer, "Lil bit." And if Michael starts blogging all thee bad things about Dunder-Mifflin then I will know for certain someone is basing his character on me. Like Michael, I don't like to be managed, nor do I like to do painting commissions.
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My most recent embarrassment occurred as I proceeded to answer an email wanting to know the meaning of one of my paintings. The sender's name was the same as two other commenter's. I assumed it was one of the others asking the question and unwittingly replied to the wrong person. Normally I would double check to make sure I was responding to the correct person, but since I had just received a couple emails from all three, I was sure I knew to whom I was replying. But no, I did not. I'm sure I embarrassed the other guy just as much as myself - I gave out way too much information. I haven't heard from him since.
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I once did something similar at my old job. I was in the habit of writing out my frustrations with the employer, and especially my boss, as if I were sending an email. I'd save the document and go back a day later to re-read it, eventually I'd edit it to be very PC and professional and positive sounding, and when completely neutralized of any emotion, I'd send it along, requesting a meeting to discuss things. Naturally, my boss would be unaware that I was unhappy about anything. One day, not too many months before I resigned, I wrote a blistering first draft - just to vent, and maybe later to rewrite for a more positive presentation. But instead of hitting 'save' I hit 'send'. I know! Of course I freaked - but then I just had to laugh out loud.
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More than a few times I showed some of my rather 'out there' paintings to people who seemed genuinely interested in my work. I can be rather naive. For instance, I once entered "The Descent" into a Christian Art Festival. OMIGOSH! The curators almost freaked - I felt like Rodney Dangerfield in Caddy Shack. Another time I showed my "Seminary Visitation" to a co-worker. He was at a loss for words - which is funny in itself - however, a while later he asked a little indignantly, "Why would you even show me that?" That was just embarrassing and freaky. I felt as if I did something bad. We laughed about it later.
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I've never claimed my art is good art.
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And as far as being embarrassed? Nothing is hidden that will not be revealed.
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So anyway - the art blog, "Up Your Street" is open. Enter at your own risk. I'm in the process of creating a portfolio of sorts.