Art of Recovery Exhibit

So last night was the big night!  The “Art of Recovery” art show’s opening night.  Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Baddy (who is not always bad), and I headed up to Fredericksburg (VA, of course!) to the gallery to attend the opening.  It was about a 2 hour, 10 minute drive, so it wasn’t too bad.  We got there in plenty of time, so we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then walked around the mall for a little while before heading to quaint little downtown Fredericksburg to the PONSHOP art gallery.

I mentioned in a previous post that they had incorporated my painting into their promotional materials advertising for the art show.  It was cool to actually see the posters in person!  The owners of the art gallery, Gabe and Scarlett, were two of the nicest (and coolest) people I’ve ever met.

Here are some pictures:

One side of their chalkboard sign.

The outside of the PONSHOP.

The other side of the chalkboard sign–the cool posters they made.

Me standing by said “cool posters.”

My painting made it in the newspaper!  Pretty cool!

Me with the two gallery owners.  They are husband and wife.  My painting is up above my head on the left side of this picture.

What was really cool was that the organizers framed one of their posters of the advertising materials with my painting incorporated into it and gave it to me!  Pretty neat.

The art show coincides with Mental Health Month (which is May), and featured artwork by people that are living with a mental health diagnosis.  Everyone at the show was very accepting and we all got treated like normal human beings, so that was a definite positive!  The gallery owners didn’t treat me any different because I have a mental illness, so I was very impressed with that.

Anyway, it was a fun little trip and I felt like a million bucks while I was there!  I got the royal treatment!  And of course, I got even more royal treatment when I got back home to Riley!  Uncle Jimmy came by while we were gone and fed her and Chloe and let them out–so of course, she had to love on her “boyfriend.”

A Quick Post

This is just a quick post…no pictures, unfortunately.  We just got back from our regular Friday nursing home visit!  We went this morning instead of our usual 1:30 PM time because I’m heading up to the art show this afternoon.

We are confirmed for every other Thursday at the assisted living place I was talking about the other day!  They already have a TDI dog visiting every Tuesday, but we’re just going to add to their visits.  I am going to meet with the Activities Coordinator next Tuesday to get a tour and to bring her all of Riley’s shot records and a copy of her badge.

Anywho, I’m getting excited about the art show!!  Just a few more hours til I head up there!  🙂

Happy "Anniversity!" and Art Show

Aunt Baddy and I were out at the local shopping center today and we came across a van that had a happy 13th anniversary wish written on it.  I just had to get a picture (unfortunately, it’s not too incredibly clear) because they spelled anniversary wrong…so it says “Happy 13th Anniversity!”

If you look at the front window, you can see “rsity.”  The “annive” part is on the tinted back window.

As I’ve mentioned on here before, I am afflicted by a mental illness.  I have an unspecified psychotic disorder.  So basically, if I’m not on anti-psychotics, I see and hear things that aren’t really there and that other people don’t see and hear.  Anyway, I am very active with the National Alliance of Mental Illness and my trip tomorrow is with them.  I’m going to be training people to go out and be state trainers for NAMI’s Peer-to-Peer recovery education course (a course for people with a mental illness, taught by people with a mental illness who are successful in their recovery).

I also like to paint and I submitted a piece to “The Art of Recovery” exhibit that one of the mental health agencies in Virginia puts on each year.  I had a piece in it two years ago, but didn’t submit anything last year.  The art show is a few hours away, but my family and I are going to drive out there to it.  Here’s my painting:

 They asked my permission to use the painting in their advertising campaign for the art show, so I of course agreed.  I thought it would be one of many pictures on the flyer, but I was surprised when I saw this:

Sorry the picture’s so small!

Anyway, it’s pretty nifty!