We’ve been slammed for the last couple of weeks preparing for the opening of this wonderful new exhibit called The Blonde Bombshells. It turns out that we have a handful of artists who are fair-haired, paint exquisitely and whose paintings all work beautifully together.
We have had a great time with every aspect of this show: the advertising, marketing and public has been a blast; cataloging was relatively effortless and hanging the show was fun. All in all, we loved the way it all fell into place as an exhibit.
We decided to preview the show with a private collectors’ evening, which meant we were expecting a smaller, more intimate gathering. We hired Eric Hassel, our favorite piano player and we had the table groaning with delicious nibbles and Demaris manning the bar (champagne, wine and Guinness in honor of St. Paddy’s Day) By 6 p.m., the six bombshells were all present and accounted for, the gallery was gleaming and we were all ready for showtime.
Lorraine Christie’s Small Day Tomorrow, 24 x 36, oil on canvas
Dawne Raulet’s Swan, 48 x 48, photography and mixed media
Bonnie Beauchamp Cooke’s Green 48 x 36 mixed media
Aaron Whitehouse’s super cool Ephipany, 60 x 48, mixed media and resin epoxy
Liz Barber’s Water Reflections, 12 x 12, mixed media
Melissa Payne Baker’s Colorful Landscape, 24 x 36, mixed media
And then disaster hit.
About five minutes before opening our little blue door to welcome our guests, there was a tremendous bang – followed by darkness. No lights, no power, no air-conditioning. The gallery was bathed in a lovely soft light from the setting sun…perfect for a romantic dinner date, but not so great for viewing art.
With no lights on, Lorraine’s painting glowed softly in the late afternoon sun.
We lit our feast with candles and everyone happily dug in.
We frantically ran downstairs to our icky mechanical room and started throwing switches but to no avail. Our ex-flight attendant, Linda, took charge and sprinted over to the grocery store across the street to clean out their supply of flashlights. We didn’t necessarily panic, but we had a new empathy for the poor captain of the Titanic when he realizes his ship is going down.
With flashlights in hand, our intrepid clients examined every painting.
It was beginning to feel like summer camp with all the flashlights.
Then we found out that someone had hit a utility pole nearby and the power was out in a mile square radius. It was a small consolation that it wasn’t our fault, but it didn’t really help matters.
So, what do you in a situation like that? Our lovely artists, the eternal optimists they are, carried on doing their thing and assured us confidently that somehow we’d fix the problem. We were wowed by their grace under pressure and the seamless way they continued to meet guests, talk animatedly about their paintings and generally charm the pants off each and every one of us at the gallery.
We all absolutely made the best of it and between candlelight, flashlights, some chilled bubbly and good music, our lovely clients and artists mingled and had a great time.
The lights finally came back on about an hour later and the party rolled on as if nothing had happened.
And, as it turns out, our blondes are not only talented bombshells but also cool-headed and gracious when the going gets momentarily rough. Bravo to one and all – and yes, they do really have more fun!
Ta ta …
HH
The questin being; was the driver that hit the electric pole on their way to the show?
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