Art Walk was great. There's nothing like selling a piece of your art to get validated. At least that was my feeling last night. My print "Refection on the Bean" was purchased by a very nice lady from Virginia who was visiting Jacksonville on business. The exchange we had was quite comical, I think she told me 3 times that she really wanted to buy the print. I didn't believe her. Then she asked if I took Visa, and I gave her a blank look. Yes there needs to be money transacted. I asked the gallery manager and my "experienced" gallery friend what to do. They didn't know. Isn't anyone prepared to sell anything around here? We got things resolved, and as it turned out, I had the only sale in the gallery that night. Rookie's luck!
I spent most of my career selling in some form or fashion. If it wasn't selling software at trade shows it was selling capabilities to clients or selling concepts to internal managers. Selling art is a different experience, especially when it is your own. I can speculate that photography is different than selling, say, the sculpture you've been working on for 3 years, or your original oil painting. That must really be emotional for the artist, to physically part with your art.
So now I have a customer. I love customers and I have missed having them ever since I sold my other businesses 9 years ago. The pieces are now coming together, some product, a customer, a venue to sell, and the confidence to keep going. Just need a little (lot) more of the above to make a business of it.