Sunday, December 06, 2009

Karen's Solo Show at Dean Day


Karen and I headed out early Friday morning for Houston to attend the opening night reception of her show at Dean Day Gallery. As we dropped through the clouds into William P. Hobby Airport, we were greeted by the second great snow storm to hit Houston in the last ten years. Our drive from the airport to the hotel took place in nearly blizzard conditions. Karen had been working on her show for months, and it was a big decision to make the trip at all. Now it looked as though the whole thing could be a bust because of the weather.
We drove over to the gallery around midday, then spent the better part of the afternoon getting acquainted with the owner Cathy Albright (above left). It was a really nice visit. Later that evening Cathy took us out to a wonderful restaurant for dinner, providing a satisfying end to what could have been a pretty bad day.
By Saturday morning the front had completely moved through, and weather wise it was turning out to be a beautiful day. As tourists, the one thing we both wanted to do while we were there was visit the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. It's a great museum. If you ever find yourself in Houston, we highly recommend you add it to your list of must sees'.
After the museum we returned to the hotel to relax, and get cleaned up for the reception. We headed over to the gallery a little before six, and people had already begun to arrive. By six thirty the place was packed. It was a terrific turn out. Karen was a little overwhelmed by the outpouring of affection for her, and her paintings. By the time they closed the doors she had met a lot of nice people, and sold four paintings. The kind of show we all hope for.
To top off the night our Houston friends, and devoted collectors Lory Quist, and Judy Vandagriff along with their better halves Greg and Ross took us out to another amazing restaurant for dinner. These are four wonderful, and exceedingly generous people. It was a joy to spend time with them.
For me, I had the added benefit of spending time with Greg Quist, and talking aviation. If you've read the bio on my website, you know that I've had a long time interest in flying. Greg's a senior captain with Southwest Airlines, who prior to that was a Navy fighter pilot. F-14's, and aircraft carriers. Very, very cool!
When we got back to the hotel I checked our email on my phone, and to add a final cherry to the top a very successful show, there was a message from Kelly at Mason Murer Gallery saying that she had sold another of Karen's paintings that afternoon. How great is that?
We flew back to Atlanta early the next morning, and both agreed that it had been a wonderful trip. Karen and I would also like to thank Cathy at Dean Day, and Lory, Judy, Greg and Ross again for showing us such a great time. Thanks.
As for me, I've been working on a painting for a little over a week now, which should be complete in the next day or so. This one, and a second that's ready to start, will be offered to Stricoff Fine Art. If I'm lucky, they'll be accepted, then sent to the L.A. Art Show in January.

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:10 AM

    Congratulations Karen on the sales:)

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  2. Wow, two artists in the family? That must be lots of fun, truly! Congratulations to Karen on such a wonderful and successful show! It looks unusual to me to see so many in winter coats in a gallery! (I have no idea why, other than tv images of galleries with highly dressed people sipping fine wine...)

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  3. What a lovely story, Neil.
    Does Karen had a web site where one can see her works?

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  4. It was a wonderful opening, Neil. We really enjoyed meeting you and Karen, and her paintings are beautiful. It was nice to finally meet you both and see her paintings in person after following your blog and her web site. So glad she had a successful show and that you enjoyed your trip to Houston. And yes, we love our Museum of Fine Arts Houston!

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  5. sorry to have missed karen's reception, but was glad to have seen the paintings on saturday afternoon. nice show and i'm glad there was a good turnout and healthy sales. congratulations, karen! maybe next time i'll get the opportunity to meet you both. perhaps there will be future shows at dean day?!

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  6. Congratulations to Karen on a successful show! I still can't believe you came to Houston on the only snow day in years...crazy! I'm glad it worked out and it sounds like you had a great time.

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  7. I am sure that anyone would like to visit it again and again because it is nice post..

    Buy painting reproductions
    Buy artists posters

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