Dejected to Re-Directed

"As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being re-directed to something better."  Steve Maraboli

This quote rings true in my life... like that time when I lost my job and decided to paint full-time.  The story of one particular painting illustrates this quotation well.  

I can't believe I'm sharing this beast AGAIN!

It began as an oil sketch on a 2-foot square canvas.  I shared it via my Facebook art page, confidently vowing to post process photos in real time.  That confidence turned to humility as the painting morphed into a bovine monster for all to see (disappointment #1).  I was embarrassed to expose my process of failure, but the story needed a happy ending, right?  I kept faithfully painting and posting horrendous photos, assuring followers that "this is where God comes in and makes it look like a cow."  Online sharing held me accountable, or I may have given up and wiped it out. 

Several Facebook posts later (see them here), there she was: a Hereford heifer taking up most of the canvas, lit by the sun, looking slightly morose with contemplation.  She didn't need a fancy title to evoke feeling, as she just exuded it, so I called her
simply "Hereford Heifer." 

I had a buyer via Facebook almost instantly -a client who'd made several purchases that year.  I offered it to her at a very low price in thanks for her patronage.  Two months went by without a payment.  I asked if she still wanted it, and she felt badly that she'd forgotten, saying I could sell it (disappointment #2).  So I entered it in the "Icons of the West" show at Dana Gallery in Missoula, MT, where it hung for the summer and didn't sell (disappointment #3).

The painting probably would have sold at my "Ranching Roots" exhibition at Rimrock Art, in Billings, MT, but I received notification that it was juried into the 2015 Governor's Capitol Art Exhibition.  Since one of my three pieces juried-in had already sold at Rimrock, and the other was in a traveling show, I put a hold on the heifer, fairly sure that it would win a Purchase Award and would join my other paintings in the capitol's permanent art collection. 

Southwest Art & Wyoming Lifestyle
Magazine both featured her.

Meanwhile, Hereford Heifer was a Finalist in The Artist's Magazine's Annual Art Competition, which earned her a place in Southwest Art Magazine's January 2015 issue.

Before shipping it to the Governor's Show in Cheyenne, WY, I received an email from a woman in Massachusetts, who'd seen "Hereford Heifer" featured in Wyoming Lifestyle Magazine and wanted to buy the painting.  I explained that it was to hang at the Governor's show, (adding smugly that the governor likes my cow paintings), but if it didn't win a Purchase Award, she could buy it at the show.  She said she'd wait and see.

The painting did not win a Purchase Award or even sell at the governor's show (disappointment #4).  When I received it back from the WY State Museum, I tried to contact the client who was interested, but I'd lost her name and email address (disappointment #5)!  I thought I'd never find her, but within a week, she emailed me again! After visiting my studio on a trip to Wyoming, this dear woman mailed a check and bought Hereford Heifer, along with two other paintings!  I packed and shipped that bovine for the last time.  She now hangs in a lovely Massachusetts home.

Each setback involved with this painting led to a better outcome.  Looking back, I can see that without the disappointing circumstances, it might have never been completed, let alone exhibited and published so widely.  In hindsight, the ups and downs all make sense.  I know that the Lord was involved in turning each disappointment into a better good.  If we look, we can see this happening in our lives, and trust that something better is on the way.