Well, earlier in the week I posted about the wonderful opportunity that came my way to have an exhibition and how it was causing me to feel less than confident about my works and my ability to pull off a showing. I wasn’t certain it was a good idea and was hedging. After much encouragement from other artists and some solid discussion with close friends, I’ve decided… not to do it. I can hear the refrain now: “Say WHAT?!?!” Let me explain why I’ve come to this decision and why it’s the best decision for ME right now.

It all comes down to confidence, right? And for me, confidence is built not upon what others think of my work, but what I think of it and right now, I think my work is inconsistent. Inconsistent in quality, inconsistent in content and inconsistent in style. Line me up against a bunch of other landscape painters who were inspired by Bob Ross and I believe mine could sell, but no one would look and go ‘that’s a Krueger!’ As such, I want more time to work on transitioning to my own consistent style.  

I also want to explore other creative avenues I have in mind. While landscape painting and florals are my first loves and what finally got me into painting, I have ideas for other, more surreal paintings that I would like to explore and maybe those will open up a new door that I’d rather take. The reality is that I only returned to painting four months ago and I don’t need to rush anything. Right now my paintings are up on Etsy, Flickr, Zazzle and DeviantArt so there is exposure going on in a limited fashion. If something sells, great, but I don’t need to rush to have an exhibition if it’s just making me overly self-conscious!

Of course, if you want a more practical reason than those, here’s a simple truth: since I started using oils, my paintings are taking weeks instead of days to cure and so I can’t even transport most of my paintings yet! So that puts a crimp in the notion!

I want to thank everybody who was encouraging me and offering me support and guidance. It is all very much appreciated and I assure you, when the time comes that I do have an exhibition, you’ll be on the invitee list!