At the Fencepost Art Gallery with my daughter Lindsay, who is the subject of the painting hanging there that day. Arlo the dog really enjoys “helping” me hang my work each day.
Back at the beginning of the pandemic, an artist friend began putting a painting on an easel out on her front porch each day. The friend lives in an urban area, and the paintings were a joy to the passers-by. I loved the idea but my front porch is on the side of the house, not really visible from the street. After some thought and staring at my house from the road, I realized that the fence I share with my neighbors, in front of the house, would work well. I had a custom sign produced by Vista Prints and used some ingenuity with screws and hanging wire, and, tah-dah! the Fencepost Art Gallery came to be.
Each day, weather permitting, I choose and hang a painting (two paintings if they are small and work together) and place my sign in front. Generally, I also take a quick photo and post that to social media. My purpose in making this gesture is to give neighbors, passers-by and social media followers some small dose of beauty in the midst of the pandemic and all of the difficulties it has brought.
The result has been better than I ever expected. People stop and look, families have made the Gallery a destination on their daily walks or bike rides, and neighbors have shared how much it means to them to see the paintings each day. One man stated “It gives me so much joy to see these!” as he walked his dog past one morning.
Due to the reach of social media, others besides those in McLean are benefiting: a recent repost of a painting on Instagram said “@carolynpaints is giving me life during this strange season”--the woman posting lives in North Carolina.
Another benefit, but one which has taken a number of months to bring to fruition, is that I have sold a few paintings. It took about six months of daily displays, but now people are beginning to decide they would like to have some of these pieces in their home.
A different artist friend also wanted to try doing this, but, he complained, he didn’t have a fence. I pointed out that I didn’t have a porch, which was why I used a fence. I challenged him to figure out what he did have. Turns out, a driveway works really well, if it’s flat -- he simply puts an easel up there and shows his art, where it is blessing his neighbors in Maryland.