by Annamaria Potamiti
(So delighted to have her watercolor in my home!)
Sketchbook doodle
Yesterday was the quintessential autumn day in Portland and I spent it indoors in a brand new, lovely building at Oregon College of Art and Craft. I was attending a marketing and entrepreneurship workshop for artists co-sponsored by OCAC and The College Art Association. I'm grateful to the nine local panelists who gave up their Saturday to share their knowledge and experience with those of us who attended the marketing sessions. I'll share a few tidbits gleaned from the sessions in my next post, but below are a few of my own thoughts on "virtual" vs. "real" social networking, which as you can imagine, was a topic of much discussion at the workshop.
Annamaria's painting, "Small Blessings no. 6 " was the first piece of original art that I purchased for myself from a blogger who happened to be an Etsy seller. The fact of the matter is, I waited anxiously for Annamaria's package. And I was all smiles when I found it on my porch and literally broke into a grin when I opened it. Of course, I don't really know Annamaria, having never actually "met" her. Nevertheless, through her absolutely delightful blog --which you must visit if you haven't yet -- I feel as though I do know her, even if just a little, and because of that, having her painting in my home brings me great happiness. Each time I look at it I think of her, working so earnestly to honor and pursue her creative ideals.
In the future, I hope to have more original art and handmade items in my home that have been made by others, and I expect that some of them will have been made by artists that I have come to know via the virtual realm. Certainly, I will continue to seek opportunities to meet artists from my own "neck of the woods" -- in real time and on solid ground. But that said, I might not have ever known that some of them even existed were it not for the virtual realm of social networking. And if and when I do finally meet them, chances are good it will be very easy to strike up conversations....just like in the movie Julie and Julia, when Julia Childs first meets the pen pal with whom she has been corresponding for eight or so years..... (Really, isn't all this social networking sort of like having a whole bunch of pen pals? :) )
And speaking of artists from my neck of the woods... I owe you some feature posts on Portland artists and I promise.....they're in the works!
Looking forward to seeing what you have been creating!! :)
