Find help: Some advice from any artists pls…Had my first exhibition last night and drew many compliments, well received by most people. - Help.com

Sure.

Anytime you’ve planned something for a long time, put a lot of effort into it, had to push your personal limits, AND had to face the possibility of rejection the aftermath will put you back to bed for a few days.

In time, you’ll find it easier. But in the meantime, just treat yourself like you’ve just been through hell. Eat good, exercise, rest, and take time to do things you really enjoy. Then you can review the evening and decide what went right, what went wrong, and what you don’t want to repeat at any cost. ;)

First of all congratulations on making getting an exhibition!! That’s quite an achievement.

As for how you feel about being the center of attention, I don’t want to be that person that says “it’s because you’re an artist!” But honestly I’d be lying if I didn’t think it had a little to do with it. I don’t know about you but I paint because I have trouble telling the world how I feel or what’s going on in my life otherwise, at least when it comes to explaining anything in depth. But when I paint I get to see that emotion come to life. However once I have to show those paintings to other people it scares the heck out of me, knowing they’re going to be do something that’s a bit of a catharsis for me.

So no, I honestly don’t think it’s weird that you feel so awful about it…so long as you know somewhere people actually do like your heart, eventually you’ll feel good about it and gain more confidence.

knowing they’re going to be judging*

Don’t think I’d realised quite how much emotional energy had gone into it, was just ‘doing’ if that makes sense. So will take a breather now, just sit back and calm down for a bit! Thanks Dragon and Red, feel a bit better now :)

Red, did scare the heck out of me too. Couldn’t string a sentence together!

That’s pretty much how it was for me, I kept trying to chill in the back, but eventually someone would come get me and shove me back into the public’s viewing eye…I had nothing to say and was all, “hi guys, I’ve got nothing to say but ummm I hope you enjoy the art and umm…feel free to ask me questions?” and then I wanted to bang my head against a wall for adding that last part.

That was pretty much how I was, loitered around in the back, was interested to hear unsolicited comments but then when someone asked me about what i do and what interests me, couldn’t explain myself, or rather couldn’t explain it so that it made sense to someone else and ended up babbling a whole load of rubbish. My 7yr old could have done a better job!
Thanks for all your comments, do appreciate it.