My mom used to laugh because I wouldn’t sell any of my art. “How is anyone else going to enjoy it if you keep it all to yourself?” She knew I used to cling to my art work and wouldn’t sell it or let it go. I would only offer commissioned art because I knew from the start it wasn’t really “mine” and couldn’t keep it.

Then one day a piece of art threatened to rip my heart out. I wasn’t hired to create it, I spent months designing and working on a piece purely for the love and creative challenge of it. Working on it was therapy, helping me cope with the devastation of 9/11 while questioning myself on why I had put my life long passion for horses on hold. My mom knew how much this art piece meant to me and drove from out of state just to see it in person the day before it was to be shipped. I didn’t want to let it go, I almost didn’t let it go. I’d already devised a lie, “I’m so sorry, I can’t ship it to you, there was an accident and it broke.” I called my friend Tammy and told her she had to come over and escort me to ship the artwork because I wasn’t sure I trusted myself to do it. She was the one who saw to it that I handed it over the counter to the shipping clerk. I was a sap and cried after I sent it away. I felt empty, like I gave up a part of myself.

But, if I hadn’t shipped that original Quarter Horse sculpture I created, the Trail of Painted Ponies wouldn’t have made it into reproductions and I wouldn’t have met so many wonderful people and made new friends all around the world. I also got back into horseback riding and adopted a Quarter Horse that saved my life in more ways than one. Opportunities arose, new ideas and art were created. I got to where I am today, all because I let one single piece of art go. Wow, Mom was right.

Original Quarter Horse Maquette Sculpture by Kathy Morawski.
Photo by Walter Gilligan

While I’ve gotten so much better about releasing art since then I still had a bunch I was holding onto. I felt it was too old or personal or too good to throw away, so for years, and during several moves, the art moved along with me. Some got hung, the rest crowded the studio, filled the closets, leaned against walls, blocked doorways and then began taking over the space in my home. It was time to finally let them go. Since my “Artists aren’t “supposed” to do that!” blog I gave some as gifts, donated others to charity, but I was still overwhelmed. I held a private studio sale offering good pieces of “older art at older prices” and was thrilled that many of them found new homes and will be gifts for others. There are still a few of these on my online studio sale page and a few more works will be posted there as well. Curious? Check them out at Kathy’s Studio Sale page. There I also have some specials on my Love Rocks, a series featuring found natural heart shape rocks that was inspired by my mom after she suddenly passed away.

“mom” plaque from the Love Rocks series featuring natural found heart shape rocks by Kathy Morawski

I remember Mom many years ago saying “Go clean your room, it will make you feel better!” Yep, it’s Feng Shui the Kathy Way! I’m finally creating a studio I can work in instead of having it be work just so I can get in it!

Thanks again Mom!