It's been one of the strangest years in my life, 2013. The highs were very high, and the lows, the lowest of all. People around me say the world is changing, and on the verge of new and much greater things. We shall see... This year I have decided to not enter the BP award for several different reasons; the main one being I really want to concentrate on building up my London Story portfolio. I have five, possibly six new paintings lined up for this year and I am very excited about all of them. Upon their completion, I am hoping the general public, as well as gallery owners, will be able to understand my vision more accurately. I will be entering a couple other competitions this year (have entered one so far) to see where they take me. The main thing here is to never give up, keep on striving to get my story across, as well as improve and learn along the way. Who knows what 2014 has in store for any of us? To hope, and dream, is something that keeps us all going in spite of life's difficulties. To paint....ah, that achieves the same things, and then some.
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Big slumps. We all have been in them, I expect. Lately I have been haunted with the burning question "But where do I go from here?" After having a wonderful summer, acceptances coming in right and left on my art work, trips back and forth to London to deliver and pick them up, etc etc etc, it's been delightfully and exhaustingly overwhelming. WOW. It's been grand...BUT...that does not prevent any kind of questioning I may still have about my desire to continue my London series, crazy as that might sound. Sometimes the answers come from the most unpredictable places. I was watching "The Waltons" (a favourite series of mine) and one of the characters, A. J. Covington, was talking to another character, John Boy Walton, about writing. This is what he said, and what inspired me to pick up my paint brush and continue with my current painting: "Don't waste your life searching for the one big story you were born to write. Write the little stories. Who knows, the sum total of them might be the big one." Precisely. Onwards and upwards. I am so pleased that all three of my London series paintings have been short listed for the Cork Street Exhibition in London in August. I have to admit, these paintings (with many more to come) are where my heart really lies. I love, just love, painting people in street scenes. The opportunities are endless...and finding them are as exciting as actually putting paint to board to produce them. It has been a good month, June, and I am thrilled that the fruits of my labour are being recognized. Watch this space as I will be coming back to report what happens with these paintings, as well as "Having a Nice Day", to see if they actually get hung in the exhibits.
In two weeks, I am off to the Mall Galleries again to deliver "Having a Nice Day" to the 2013 Sunday Times Watercolour Competition. It has been selected for the final judging and I could not be more thrilled. This painting was very special to me for a lot of reasons; for starters, it was the actual catalyst for my portraiture and figurative works. It was, quite frankly, the beginning of lots and lots to come. "Having a Nice Day" was also a painting that helped me deal with realizing America was no longer my home. The man in the painting, Bob, graduated with me from high school and in this photo he was celebrating a reunion with my fellow classmates. Everything about this painting epitomizes what being an American means to me....everything. To say completing this piece was cathartic is perhaps an understatement; as in everything I choose to paint, it was extraordinarily therapeutic for me. Upon completion, I was released of all the painful feelings of missing a place I was familiar with for many years; I guess you could say I left and came home in all of those meticulous brushstrokes. On another note, I was compelled to prove that I actually could paint a portrait well. An acquaintance once told me that my landscapes were "better" than my portraits and it haunted me enough to try my best to prove her wrong. So, here's to you, Bob. If you don't get through to the final hanging, you swam to the finish line. And that in itself is something to be proud of. Well, dear Weebly blog, it's been awhile. Alas, Facebook has taken over my life and I have done all my updates there on my special art page. BUT I'm back, at least for now. Good news! My painting (see left) "Hiding" has been selected by the SWA (Society of Women Artists) for their 152nd annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries from the 27th of June until the 6th of July. So my little boy will have a home at last on some pretty prestigious walls. And perhaps someone will come along and adopt him and give him a permanent home. He has been "hiding" away in my portfolio for a couple years and now it's time for him to breathe. After the disappointment of rejection for the BP this year, this has been a welcomed approval. I am so grateful to my artist friends (one Dutch artist especially who lit the proverbial fire under my you-know-what) who have supported me and pushed me on to other competitions and exhibitions. If it were not for them, I would not have tried. So, little guy, put on your best smile and polish your sandals because you are going to be hanging soon enough in a gallery I could only dream of being in. Although I knew it existed since I was a child, that wonderful ride around the corner full of excitement and promise, I didn't anticipate jumping on it with such abandon in my later years.
The art world is full of ups and downs, frightening turns and thrilling highs and I would not necessarily wish it on anyone who is not brave enough to stand in the very long cue to get on. As artists, we worry, we stress, we work in almost complete isolation. We enter competitions against literally thousands of other hopefuls, we spend more money than we have on supplies, we put our hearts, souls, and guts out there for everyone to see and judge. We approach countless publishers, galleries, ANYONE who will just please notice our work. Please. We make very little money (unless the chosen few are successful) with all the hours we put into our craft, we withstand or painfully feel the criticism and seek praise, acceptance or even adulation. We are the sensitive ones. We are the people who "see" what many don't and then place our interpretations out for the rest of the world to understand. We paint, we sculpt, we photograph. We create. Today something really wonderful happened. I was researching the net for photos past and present, of ordinary people,and stumbled across some really amazing London street photographs by Paul Bence. What a talent this man is. I have never met him and yet through his photographs I felt as if I knew him. He captured people, all ages, sizes, colour and creed so poignantly that it practically moved me to tears. You see, I decided to paint my own street photographs over a year ago, which in many ways is quite a novel idea. Lately I have been on the scary part of that ride, wondering if perhaps I had taken a wrong turn. Thanks to Paul Bence, I know I have not. I have a story to tell, I know in my heart that I must continue to do this in spite of the steep ride down. My paintings may not be especially pretty or decorative; they may not sell for thousands of pounds or even hang in a decent gallery. But by God they will leave my mark behind when I go. There's no getting off the ride now, only desire and fear and passion to pull me through as I continue along my path. Ahhhh, December is here already and a lot has happened since I have started writing in here.
Today I entered the 2013 BP Award, and it felt GOOD. I mean, really GOOD. Yes, it was scary to enter for the first time last year, and soooo disappointing to not get in. And I'm not going to lie and say I won't be disappointed if I don't get in this year, but I will be approaching it with a new pair of eyes. It is simply the effort that counts here, and knowing I am competing with the most skilled and talented artists in the world. "Boo" was a personal triumph for me, there is no denying it. The painting is my daughter through and through, and after devoting countless hours to painting it and trying to capture her essence on board, I quite naturally became very attached to it. Therefore, when the painting did not get accepted into the award, I felt crushed. BUT to get as far as I did, on my first try; well, that is really amazing. Now that I look back on the entire experience, I can honestly say that having the painting accepted was simply not meant to be. I was far too attached to it, would have stressed and worried about it being in galleries all over the UK, and so on and so on. This year's entry is completely and entirely different. I am not posting any work-in-progress photos of my entry because I want it to remain a secret. I have been taking photos, mind you, but they will not come up until after the judges make their decisions. What I will say is that the man I am painting is not a family member or close friend. He is someone I saw in passing a few times. I found myself experiencing that gut-wrenching feeling so many artists know all too well: "I must paint him!!!" and therefore approached him and asked his permission for a photo shoot. What a kind and gentle man, what an incredibly beautiful face he has; he was more than happy to pose for me and I was very fortunate indeed to capture him perfectly on my camera. The rest is up to me. I will try my very best to do his face and personality justice. I have also been lucky enough to personally meet some really amazing artists this year. I will refrain from naming them but will just state that they are all incredible talents as well as human beings. Meeting them just confirmed to me that the most special people on the earth are artists. I am so proud to be one of them. I could go on and on about how much I have learned this year, but I will spare anyone who cares to read this with a long and boring diatribe. I will state, however, that the most important thing I've learned is to feel quietly confident about where my path is taking me. I know now that there is no turning back; I have gone too far to even consider doing something else with my life. And that is where I am at the moment. I know who I am, what I want to paint, and love doing it. To quote a very lovely art friend, I have found "The Holy Grail". SMILE. Today marks the beginning of a new era for me. I had to to the inevitable and say goodbye to my Art Club ladies and it was heartbreaking.
What is happening is that I am so involved in trying to perfect my art and get it into galleries that even spending a couple hours in an art club is too much time away from my work. I knew this was going to be inevitable but it was still very difficult. These people were with me in the very beginning and encouraged me all along the way. If there is indeed a ladder to climb, they were on the first and most important rung. And no matter what happens to my career, I will never forget the countless people in my life who were there for me along the way. |
AuthorJust little old me, fitting into this little old world. :-) Archives
November 2017
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