Well, I entered 3 paintings into the South Shore Art Center’s Juried show, “Paint”. I recieved the notification letter today that my paintings were not selected for the show. They also said in the letter that out of 200 submissions from all different states, they only selected 50, and that Gerry Bergstein, (The Juror for this show) was very impressed with my work and considered it.
I would love to know how much of that is true, and how much of it is a form letter. I would also love to know what the determining factors were. Why exactly were mine not selected, is it because they’re awful? Is it because they didn’t suit the style of the show? Are they priced too high? Is it because I haven’t really shown anywhere and I’m virtually unknown? If they told me a little more it would help me improve, at least I could take the info and learn from it.
These are the 3 paintings I submitted, I would love an honest critique, what can I improve? Would you buy these? If not, why? Please be honest.
Skinny Dippin’ 20″ X 16″
Sailboat 16″ X 16″
“Path To Nantasket” 20″ X 30″
None of these are done yet, but I thought I would show what’s going on right now in my studio.
This one is my favorite….
This one is my second favorite…
I’m not sure if I like this one after all, but I’ll finish it.
Tonight I began painting a mural of Diamond Head. I was trying to apply what I had learned during my previous painting of Maui. This did not go quite as quicky as the painting on canvas which was to be expected since the mural is much larger for one
(4′ X 3′), and it’s on a wall which has an entirely different texture. I find it’s a little more difficut to blend on a wall rather than a canvas.
Here is the progress so far…
I completed a painting today that I started yesterday evening. All in all I finished it in a few hours. I am very happy with the outcome, and really excited that I am really beginning to figure out how to paint more loosely, and hint at things instead of actually painting every blade of grass, and every grain of sand.
It’s a relatively small painting, maybe around 12″ X 16″ and I think that helped me learn to paint a little looser. It’s easier not to get as intimidated by a small canvas as it is by a big one, let alone a huge one!
Now if I can only learn to apply this to my larger scale paintings.
I finally finished a painting that I had put off for a long time… I put it off because I was very frusterated with it, and I don’t really like it that much. It wasn’t until two of my friends came over and told me how much they liked it, that I decided to actually finish it. I began thinking that even if I didn’t enjoy it, maybe other people would.
I guess it all boils down to the question,
do you produce art for yourself or the art viewer?
I’ve always had trouble with that, if it’s for the viewer where do you get the satisfaction for yourself? If it’s for yourself then what if you’re the only one who likes it leaving you with no viable art business. There must be a happy medium, but what is it and how do you find it?
My Husband gave me the day off on Monday so I could paint. He also gave me a painting excercise. He told me to paint a picture of a rainy day and it had to be finished by the time he got home around 6:30pm. Which was great because I have trouble finishing paintings within a reasonable amount of time. So that morning around 9am I went out and took some inspirational photos of the rainy day, and then returned to my studio…Here was the beginning of the Rainy Day painting…
Here is what I ended up with at the end of the day…
I hated it. I didn’t paint more loosely at all. I kind of like the background, but not the guy, not the rain, not much else about the painting. I’ve already begun to go back into this one to try and fix it.
I stretched the Canvas for the Lighthouse painting. It’s huge. About 5′X4′. I also took a trip down to lowes and bought some wood and brackets to make reinforcements for the back of the canvas so it won’t warp. I treated the surface with some matte poly-acrylic although it didn’t come out as smooth as I’d like it to be. I recently found some self leveling gloss gel medium in the Dick Blick catalog. I think I’ll order some, it’s supposed to dry to a clear glossy finish without any brushstrokes. This sounds like what I’d like my surface to be like before I paint on it.
Hopefully soon, I will begin my next painting. It will be of a light house, at night….It will be fairly large…more soon.
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