Sunday, April 18, 2010

Jury's Top 60 Award....

Out of the 392 paintings selected for Salon International 2010, the Salon International Jury chose what they considered to be the top 60 pieces. My piece "Radiance" was one of the 60 chosen. I considered just getting in this show an award. I don't have the words to express how I feel about being in the top 60. I am thrilled....

"Radiance"

We left for San Antonio about 9am Thursday, the 8th. It took about 8 hours because we wanted to take the back roads. It probably took a couple of hours more than had we gone through Austin, but then again Austin has some of the worst traffic conditions in the country, so who knows. The wild flowers, and especially the blue bonnets, were in full bloom.
There were interesting sights other than the flowers. I do wish I'd taken a picture because we saw "Mater" parked at a gas station in one of the little towns we went through. I'm not kidding! Someone had taken their old pickup and made it look like the character from the movie CARS.

We arrived in San Antonio at the home of our friends about 5pm. For dinner Mike and Elizabeth took us to one of their favorite restaurants. Of course I can't remember the name but they specialize in Persian food. Before the meal they brought out a huge piece of flat bread and a dipping sauce made with spices and olive oil. The spices smelled heavenly. The salads were beautiful and everything tasted wonderful.

The following day we went to the missions. There are a lot of them around San Antonio with remarkable history's. The largest being San Jose. While there, John said he saw a woman over in a corner painting. That perked my interest, but when I looked she was gone. A little while later I saw her so I walked over to say Hi. Life can be so funny. Can you believe it? I knew her and of her. Well, we'd not actually met. She was in charge of bringing artists in to do demos for the Richardson Art Society so we'd exchanged emails. Unfortunately she was out of town when I did my presentation, but just about everyone in the Dallas/FtWorth area knows Cecy Turner. She said she was in town for the Salon International banquet and artists reception. Small world. After exchanging a hug I left and continued to take pictures however very few turned out. The light wasn't great for picture taking but the weather was wonderful for wandering around San Antonio. It was unusually cool which I appreciated very much.

That evening John, Mike, Elizabeth and I went to the awards banquet. This was the first time I'd ever been to the Greenhouse Gallery however I've known about it for years. This is also the first year they'd had the banquet at the Gallery so everyone who attended got to see the show before dinner. They gave us an hour to look then gently prodded us toward our tables. Who cared about eating. I've seen a lot of art shows and all of them are incredible, but I've never seen one that had nothing but oil paintings. There was just something different about it, the paintings seemed to glow. Maybe it was the varnish. Anyway, seeing them for real and not in a magazine or on the internet makes a huge difference. I was impressed. After seeing the quality of the work I was embarrassed. I could not see my work as qualified to hang there with all the rest. I never did get used to it. I also met quite a few people who's names I was familiar with but for some odd reason could not picture their work. Anyway, as I said, who wanted to eat. Surprisingly enough the food was remarkably good. The judge was Everett Kinster. He was a hoot, funny and entertaining. I did not envy him having to pick winners from this show. Not only was it huge and impressive, 392 paintings, but he had to narrow it down to a few. Many of the winners were not there nevertheless the banquet was full to capacity. Whew!

The champagne artist reception was Saturday from 5 to 8. That was fun. The gallery was packed, people were milling around and paintings were selling. One couple bought six that I know of. Who knows where they stopped. Again I met some wonderful people. By 7:30 our friends and my exceptional husband were exhausted, as was I, but they had to drag me out. I still never felt like I saw the whole show.

Sunday morning John loaded the truck then asked the dogs (our Yorkshire Terriers) if they wanted to go home. Bossy Belle insisted, but she's demanding about everything and Bazil in his easy going way had to be helped into the truck. We decided to go through Austin on the way home, we'd seen enough flowers, but it was still early Sunday when we went through. I tell you, I'd hate to see Monday morning on the Austin freeway. We got home at a decent hour but I came down with something Monday and started sneezing my head off. I felt lousy for days. I'm feeling better now, a week later, and it's raining so here I sit. By the way, I'm no longer on the edge, I'm somewhere completely different, and quite frankly, I'm glad to be here.

Hope you are all doing fine and painting happily...

Thursday, March 11, 2010

It's titled "More Than Coming And Going"

This is my latest oil painting. Well actually I finished it a month or so ago. I'm well into another one. Anyway, this one is 24 x 36" and if you didn't know it, it's Venice. I've never attempted to paint anything this big but I managed without having a complete breakdown. Just kidding. I really did enjoy painting it. It was the 18 x 24" of a house boat in Seattle that turned me upside down. Funny how when you do something that's really difficult, but you keep at it, everything seems downhill after that. I planned to take it to Southwest Gallery but decided to enter it in a show first. I'm waiting to hear back.

So what am I painting now? Cows...I know, I go from Venice to cows. There must be a story behind this right? I was on my way to Plano one Tuesday to teach my class when I happened to glance over my right shoulder. What I saw was a photo op that I could not resist. And let me tell you, sometimes you only get that one opportunity. The sun was coming up, there was a heavy fog, the colors were beautiful, I was in awe. What's more, I have not seen those cows in that pasture since, much less fog, so I'm happy, and it's smart, to have a camera with you everywhere you go.

Because of that day however, I bought a new camera. My little Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX3 has always served me well but I realized a 3X zoom was not enough. I'm actually working from the photo that taken from the greatest distance and it's not very good. So I bought another Lumix. I got a DMC ZS3 which has a 12 X zoom. Woo Hoo! So if those cows ever come back I'm ready. Other than being a little bigger and a little heavier it fits in my purse just fine.

As soon as I'm finished with my cows, I will post it....stay tuned.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

I am soooooo excited....!!!!

As you can well see I have not posted here for quite some time. It's not that I have not been painting, I have been, diligently, I just wasn't pleased with the results for about half of 2009. So what was I to say and what was I to show?

The biggest problem I discovered was I'd been fighting myself. It wasn't until I decided to let what I know about colored pencil transfer over into what I did "not" know about oil. Once I decided to approach oil like I do colored pencil, oh my, things got much easier.

So even though things have appeared quiet, a lot has been going on. One year has passed since I started this adventure. At last I am comfortable. I'm no longer perching precariously on the edge and I have a sure path to follow. That kind of change is always exciting but that's not why I am posting and that's not why I said I was "soooooooo excited". I am sooooooo excited because two of my paintings have been accepted in the very prestigious Salon International 2010.

I have viewed this show on line for years but could never enter because it's a competition for oil paintings only. When saw the deadline for entering was coming up fast I had a choice to make. I
still needed to tweak "The World Outside Your Door" and lacked a few days finishing "Radiance". I felt a bit rushed and not really ready but I've always believed there's no time like the present and nothing ventured nothing gained.

"The World Outside Your Door"

"Radiance"

Anyway, here's the letter I received:


Dear Friends,


I want to take this opportunity to say that each one of you who submitted entries to Salon International 2010 is to be commended for your part in creating the largest number of entries submitted in any single year in the nine-year history of the event - almost 1,300 entries!


You are also to be commended for creating the strongest group of entries in the history of the event. Of course, this creates a much more difficult task for the Jury and Judge, but that’s a good thing! Because of the strength of the entries the Salon International 2010 exhibit will be the largest ever - almost 400 paintings! This exhibit will be truly spectacular. I promise you it will be a visual overload!


Again, I thank each one of you for your part in making all this happen and for creating another successful Salon International exhibit. Together, we will continue to grow this exhibit and to make it the largest, most respected and most prestigious of the juried exhibits.


Warm Regards,


Jim


So there's been a lot of screaming, jumping and yahooing around here the last few days. I call it the happy dance. I'm sure it's a sight to see. My husband seems to like it......he followed me back to my studio and said he wanted to see it again.


Now it's time to get them framed
, boxed up and shipped out to San Antonio. The exhibit opens and will be on the web site April 10. Woo Hoo!