Art of the American West Art Show & Sale

"We are pleased to inform you that your artwork has been accepted in the Art of the American West Art Show & Sale sponsored by Red River Valley Museum."

First impression - Music to my ears. Second thought - I need to mail my paintings! TODAY!

"Buckaroo" and "Chuck and Bleuch" were accepted into the Art of the American West Art Show & Sale! I received my email yesterday (Tuesday) during my lunch break. Thoughts reeling, the paintings need to arrive in Texas by July 5, plus there's no mail service on the 4th of July … crunch time! So, during my afternoon break I called a couple places to get my ducks in a row.

The moment I clocked out of my 40 hour/week office job I went home, found my 11" x 14" frames and my two paintings. I then drove into Portland to Tap Plastics. 

The thing about watercolors is that they need to be displayed under glass, and the thing about glass is that you don't want to ship it due to the danger of it breaking in transit, so I was getting some plexiglass! I opted for the non-glare plexi and it fit perfectly in the frames!

Another thing about watercolors, other than displaying behind (plexi)glass, is that the actual painting can't touch the glass. Why? Because if the glass sweats, the painting/paper/photo will stick to the glass and it's never ever the same. So the next stop was back towards my home to Michaels to find suitable mat board. I found the perfect precut mat board … double, outside cream with a weave texture and the inner mat was a dark brown (just about the same color as my frames).

Then it was back to home to clean off part of my kitchen table, pull out the power tools, framing wire and hardware, and wire cutters. An hour or more later, plus being super picky about the smallest pieces of lent trapped between the plexi and the mat board, they were ready to be mailed!

For this shipment I needed something quick and easy. I went to FedEx. I took a look at the paintings and thought "If I'm lucky (?) I may never see these again. Here's hoping they both get sold!" It took a max of 30 minutes to get them all safely nestled in layers and layers of bubble wrap and they fit nicely in the same box. They will arrive in plenty of time and I didn't have to give an arm and leg!

Here's some info on the show:

"Art of the American West - Celebrating the National Day of the Cowboy"
It runs from July 27 to September 14, 2013
The Preview Reception is Saturday, July 27 and tickets are $10 each. Maybe some one will go for me. ;-)

Red River Vally Museum
4600 College Drive
Vernon, TX 76385

And some last minute photos before the framed paintings were shipped. You get the idea …