Saturday, August 04, 2007

A summer full of busy

So much to catch up on! Eric worked straight through for almost three weeks, so I didn't get any breaks, then I went to New Hampshire for a wee bit all by myself to visit some old friends. Like this painting that I gave to Kristi as a wedding present.

Kristi was looking pretty good too, but not feeling up to photos on the web. And I was lucky enough to see not just my friend Sandy but also her son Gregg and his girlfriend Amy and the whole family! It was a really great trip and a nice breath of fresh air to be an adult without small people hanging on me. To see Sandy with her grown children and how well they're all doing is a nice reminder of what I'm headed towards as well. Though I guess it's too much to hope for that once kids are grown they'll have grown out of all their bad habits.

While I was there I learned about something called Non-Violent Communication created by Marshall Rosenberg. It's hard to describe but worth checking out if you want to get along better with people, resolve conflicts, teach children ect. There are books, CDs, ect. and they have this website http://www.cnvc.org/


Once I got back Eric went down to visit his dad in GA for 6 days and now we're here. While Eric was gone I submitted some artwork into the annual juried show they do at a local gallery here. The theme is the same every year, Something Hot. It's a tad ambiguous. It's interesting to see what people come up with to fit in the theme and the different styles people present. The judging system is pretty arbitrary and dependent on the one judge's taste. After the judging they provide an open critique at the gallery. In the past I really enjoyed the critique process because I learned a lot and was able to see all that was submitted but this year the woman judging was really horrible, negative and condescending. I don't know if there is anything she would like if she didn't make it (she made quite a point to flaunt her credentials). Listening to this woman took all the thrill out of being accepted into the show. I even toyed with the idea of taking my piece out, but instead chose to write a letter to the gallery director. I described how it all went from the perspective of a participant and offered to let her give me her mailing list so I can form a support group for emerging/learning artists to have our own group critiques. Nothing ventured - nothing gained.

Anyway, here is the piece that got into the show. It'll be up for a month at Gallery 222 in Leesburg Va.

Meanwhile, I have to get some new stuff up into the shop, and thanks to all of you for being patient. Now that I've got a camera again I'm hoping to get back into the pace of a new piece every one or two weeks. I'm also planning on posting more originals and different options for prints so stay tuned. I'm also finally getting to work on the portraits I've been commissioned to do and the process is really exciting, but sometimes a little intimidating. I'm lucky that the woman I'm doing them for is really good at collaborating with me about what she wants and what I can do. Hoping you're all having a happy full of fun times summer, in the mean time try and stay cool.

1 comment:

  1. YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED!
    see here for details!!

    Check out my blog for details
    http://washboardsally.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete