How long did it take from first contact to an actual yes?
Mine was fourteen months. I sent a proper letter and a small printed portfolio to a gallery I had admired for years, heard nothing, sent a second one the following season, and eventually got a note back asking to see the work in person. The show came nearly a year after that. I have since learned that this is not unusual, but at the time I was convinced I had done something wrong.
So I would like to know: what was the gap between your first contact with a gallery and the first time they said yes? Not the whole courtship, just the honest stretch of time. I am partly asking because I suspect the numbers are far longer than anyone admits publicly, and partly because I would like to know whether anyone has had it happen quickly and whether that turned out to be a good thing.
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Fourteen months is quick by my measure, honestly. Mine was closer to two years with the gallery that finally took a proper interest, and the funny part is it started as a no. They saw my work in a group show, told me my panels were "a little heavy for their wall," and I went home and stewed about it for a season. Then a year later their curator wrote to me out of nowhere because a client had asked for exactly that heavy stone look.
What I would say is the gap is rarely about the work being wrong. It is about a slot opening, a client asking, someone leaving, a season turning. The second letter you sent probably did the real work, it just did it slowly. I have stopped reading silence as a verdict, is what I mean.