How did you find your first gallery, or did they find you?
I've never approached a gallery, honestly. I've only ever done local art fairs and a couple of small cafe shows. I keep telling myself I'll send some work out but I don't even know where to start, and part of me is scared of being laughed at with my little landscapes lol.
I'd love to hear how your first one actually happened. Did you walk in cold? Send an email with photos? Get invited somehow? And how long had you been painting before you tried?
I'll take all the stories as encouragement to finally do it. My plan was to email a small local gallery with three images and see what happens, but I've been sitting on that draft for two months 🙃
4
6commentsSaveFollow threadShare
The email-with-three-images plan is exactly what I did, and honestly the fear was worse than the doing. I'd been doing pastels properly for maybe three years before I tried, and I kept talking myself out of it the same way you are. Then one night I just sent it before I could chicken out, to a small gallery I'd been to a few times as a visitor. I figured worst case they ignore it.
They actually replied the next morning asking to see more work in person. I nearly panicked. But that first yes made the second one easier, and the rejections after that stung less than I thought they would.
One thing that helped me pick a place: go somewhere you've already been, where you've looked at the work on the walls properly. It felt less like a stranger asking for a favor, more like I was part of the conversation already. And three images is the right number, don't let anyone tell you to send twenty.
Send it. Even if they say no, the not-knowing was worse for me than any actual answer.
The same pattern here, only with watercolor rather than pastels. I sent four images to a gallery I'd visited several times, thought of it as nothing more than an exercise in being brave, and they wrote back within the week. I remember being almost annoyed that it had been so simple, after all the weeks I'd spent convincing myself it would look foolish.
Three images is a sound number, by the way. Enough to show range without overwhelming anyone. If I had one piece of advice, it would be to make sure those three are genuinely your strongest, not merely your most recent. We tend to love our newest work; it rarely deserves the slot.
The fear does not entirely go away, but it does shrink to a manageable size once you have done the thing once. I wish you well with it. Do send the email.
That "exercise in being brave" framing is brilliant and I'm stealing it. That's exactly what I need to tell myself, because otherwise I'll just keep waiting for some mythical perfect moment that never comes.
And you're right about the three strongest vs. most recent. That's a real trap for me, I paint something and I'm so excited about it that I forget my older stuff might actually be better. Good reminder to actually look at my work like I'm someone else.
Okay. You've convinced me. Sending the email this week. 😅
"The fear was worse than the doing", okay that's what I needed to hear today. And the part about just sending it before you could chicken out, that's basically my whole strategy for everything, including emails to my kid's teacher lol.
The next morning reply is wild though. I keep picturing it going to spam or just sitting there for weeks. Good for you for going in with the pastels too, that takes guts in a medium that's already kind of overlooked.
Can I ask, did they want originals right away or did you get to bring a few framed pieces in first? I'm trying to figure out how much framing I need to have ready before I send that first email.