Mission Impossible - Almost: A Total Drama Day

Today was the day to drop off my painting for the NW Watercolor Show in Seattle. I have been looking forward to this day. Checking and re-checking my calendar to make sure I had the date right. The day comes, today, and I had completely forgotten until I got a phone call, "Are you coming?" They would be there until 3:00 pm, maybe. I gave my apologies and left immediately. It was 12:00 pm. I arrived to find the doors locked; then, realized I was at the wrong building.

At the correct building, the doors were locked. I called the chairman. She came down to let me in. Upon seeing my painting, she said, "I can't accept this. It doesn't have a white matte." How did I miss that very important tidbit? I was so careful to read everything in all four of the very long and wordy pages of the show's prospectus.

I told her that I would fix it and be back as soon as possible. She said, "We are almost done and may not be here when you get back. Call me when you get the matte changed." I agreed and went straight to Daniel Smith; which, thankfully, was not far from there. 

1:50 pm: I got the framer working on the matte. It would be easy and quick, but she was a very relaxed kind of gal and took her time. 
Turns out that I was one of three artists who entered the show that made the same white matte mistake.  So I'm not loosing it after all.  I'm just an artist and apparently the last one to make that mistake.  Sheesh!

30 minutes went by and I was very anxious. I called the chairman, "They're working on it and will be done any minute." She was gracious and said she'd wait. Got the re-matted painting, paid for it, drove back, got it into the show, sighed a big sigh of relief, gave the lady a pocket sketchbook I found in the store while I was waiting and went back to the elevator.

Whew!...But, then, ...I discovered that I was stuck in the elevator after pushing the wrong button to the wrong floor. The floor under the garage and I needed a key to go up one floor to the garage where my car was. A little panicked, I noticed I could exit out the back side of the elevator to daylight. Outside. Fresh air and not stuck in an elevator.  I breathed another sigh of relief before I realized that I was also outside the locked garage, the elevator closed and I had to call the chairman to help me get back in to where my car was (oh, Lord!  What she must be thinking of me right now). Luckily, someone was leaving and let me in and the chairman didn't have to come rescue me. Whew, again!

Now it was finally over and I went home to relax and watch a movie. No more real life drama for me today.  Ironically, yesterday I had rented the movie, 'Mission Impossible' to watch this evening.  It's much less stressful to watch someone else do an impossible mission and make it possible. 

My mission impossible turned into an episode of  'Get Smart' without the fancy moves and the shoe phone.  I missed not getting my painting into a show 'by that much'.

 

It figures. Now I have the theme song to Get Smart stuck in my head.

Read more funny stories:
There Is Something Wrong With Your Hearing
Don't Ever Do This!
A Lesson In Fashion Turns Into A Funny Tattoo Story
Curiosity And Other Artistic Traits
Demo Is A Four Letter Word
What If I Do This?

 

 

(written in April 2012.  No award and no sale on the painting.  It is now in my private collection.)