I have roughly 25 pieces, all smaller works (which is typical) up on a wall here in Stumptown through the end of this month. I was really surprised when I stepped back and looked at all of them how cohesive they looked together. I've dabbled in so many mediums with such a range of subjects that I didn't really expect it all to look like it went together. Somehow it does. They all bear the mark of being "mine," I suppose.

I haven't shown my work anywhere. Not as a body, anyway; a piece or two here, another one there. That's it, for years. I didn't want to launch myself out in to the world until I felt like my work was strong enough to be worth looking at. I couldn't imagine anything worse (from a career perspective) of having someone remember me as the young woman who made some not-so-great-stuff a couple of years ago.

But seeing this work all together on the same wall, I feel pretty good. Like I'm ready, or very nearly, to launch myself out into the open seas of the art world. This is a good place to be, since I'm starting my thesis soon and really will get launched out into the "real" world. Not that I'm terribly concerned with a high degree of success. In the words of an artist I admire, I just want to "underachieve in peace." But I want to underachieve with a small income from it. Modest hopes for an artist, but perhaps realistic in this unforgiving economy. Realistic in any economy.

I'm trying to stay focused on my art. I have been making more stuff. I've also been nursing some wounds in my personal life, and am really writing this reflection on art because I'm trying not to think about a mistake I made. "Mistake" is too strong of a word perhaps. Error. Miscalculation. Stumble. I feel like I've been doing a lot of that lately. One more thing to add to the pile.

Focus. I am an artist, and that is primary. It is more important to me than anything else. Stay focused on the bigger things.