A budding painter, signs of finally getting started?

Yesterday (the 7th), I spent the morning appreciating the Tokyo Exhibition in Ueno with my art teacher (a field trip of sorts?). In the afternoon, I moved to Ginza to visit galleries. I walked around Tokyo all day in the rain until my legs felt like sticks.

"Art is only worth something if people see it. It's time to show off the stock you've built up so far." ...Following my teacher's suggestion, I was given the opportunity to see and experience firsthand "what kind of galleries exist and what a solo exhibition is really like."

In the evening, I moved to Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi-mae and headed to my final destination, Chuwa Gallery. It is a venue that feels like a home ground where my teacher holds a solo exhibition every year.

When I visited my teacher's solo exhibition there for the first time last autumn, I wrote an article like this ↓...

It seems this gallery has moved and reopened here ↓ this year, while keeping the same atmosphere.

During the renovation, a "long, vertical main room" in the back and a separate "square enclosed small room (= a multi-purpose space near the entrance)" were also created. Yesterday, after consulting with the owner, we decided on my teacher's "next year" solo exhibition for [ 9/5 (Tue) - 9/10 (Sun) ], and at that time, it was decided that I would also take the opportunity to exhibit a dozen carefully selected works in that attached mini-space.

I was worried that if a novice like me, who doesn't know left from right, suddenly held a solo exhibition alone, the audience would likely be limited to friends and family. ...But, by doing it "at the same time and venue as my teacher's solo exhibition," I was told that I could also have my teacher's customers, who are already well-versed in art (= and who naturally outnumber my own customers by a factor of ten), see my work. (Apparently, "creating opportunities to lower the hurdle for new artists to debut" is one of the purposes of this small attached room. Wonderful...)

It's such an undeserved opportunity after only a year and a half of painting... Is this really okay? There must be many people who have been working harder for longer than I have who are struggling at this very step of taking the first leap...

Lu, lu, lucky... What on earth has happened to my fortune... Is this really happening to me???? ...I'm just not used to receiving luck... but... I will take this as "guidance toward a mission" and gratefully accept it. Yes. And to ensure I don't get struck by lightning, I will walk even more carefully. (Of course, without forgetting to enjoy it.)

I was nervous greeting the owner at the office... nervous having them look at my paintings... and even more nervous as the conversation became concrete. (Actually, the moment I grabbed the "forelock of the goddess of opportunity," my thighs were trembling. Lol)

I was also advised to proudly use my real name instead of an artist name, so I will stop calling myself "Yuki" on note from now on (my real name uses different kanji). I will proudly carry out my activities using the full real name given to me by my parents and ancestors. While holding onto the day when I can call myself an "artist" in both name and reality.

...That's right, I need to make business cards soon!

Postscript (Article from 9/1/2023): And this is what came to fruition. ↓