Doing a bad painting is very discouraging. You started with such high hopes, and suddenly you are looking at a piece of paper with some squiggles and blotches on it. Not what you had in mind at all. I’ve heard some artists state that if one out of every ten paintings turns out, they consider that to be a huge success. On the other hand, I’ve heard artists say that they just keep working on the painting until something turns out. I have posted many failures to this blog over the years. One of my favorite posts is on failed paintings (The Gift of a Failed Painting.) Artists know so much failure that it is hard not to become annoyed when people compliment your talent. Whatever amount of talent you have, you’ve also put in hundreds and thousands of hours of practice and study.

Next week starts the Second Annual Coastal Plein Air. Like last year, Sandra and I have picked out a weekend to paint together. To prepare, this weekend I checked out three videos on landscape painting topics and prepared to learn. One video I had seen before and one was essentially a step-by-step, but the third was a gem. I had either watched this video before or seen the technique, but Tony Van Hasselt really nailed the presentation. The title was Fun with Figures, and I certainly had a good time!

The basic idea is to simplify the human form and let the little happy accidents tell the story. It’s similar to carrot people, but produces figures with a little more bulk.

Start out with three letters: U, W, O.

Turn the U upside down, then draw a VERY long W under it. Add the O for the head.

More complicated figures include more letters: X, V, H, and A.

When you start using paint to create the figures, things start to get more interesting. Obviously, I was just using scrap paper and the colors on my palette, so don’t be too thrown by the blue people and occasional random line.
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I’ve always been hesitant to include figures in my landscape paintings, afraid they would ruin it. I’m giving myself a challenge during this event: turn in at least one painting with a figure. I don’t want my paintings defined by the things I’m afraid I can’t do.

It’s so sad when the mind starts to go. I called a friend on Thursday (the 6th) night, completely panicked. “The NWWS deadline is the 9th!”

She agreed.

“That’s tomorrow!” I said.

Long silence. “That’s Sunday,” she said.

“No, no!” I said with complete conviction. “The 9th is tomorrow! I have to figure out what to enter!”

Long pause (in retrospect, a pause of trying to figure out how to deal with the crazy person) then she said, “Well, just enter whatever. It’s a crapshoot anyway.”

Minutes later, as we were debating choices, I looked at the calendar in confusion. “The 9th is Sunday…”

Long pause. “Yes?”

“It’s Thursday.”

She made no comment.

***

This story showcases many things about the entry process, including the panic and indecision of the experience. As I now realized I had until Sunday (today) to enter the show, I did absolutely nothing about entry Thursday evening.

But the time has come! I must make choices! Here I go.

The Choices

I have three shows to enter. 1) NWWS, 2) WSO, and 3) AAEA. The last two aren’t due for a couple of weeks, but my schedule indicates it had better be now if I want to meet the deadlines.

Here is a gallery of the pieces I have created in the last year that might have a chance.

Okay. So, possible AAEA from this list.

I can enter three images, so I’ll enter all of them. I think “I’ll Scratch Your Back” is the strongest, but I have no idea at this point. Any acceptance would be a step in the right direction.

Paid and submitted.

***

Because I have been struggling to get into WSO, I think I’ll select the strongest, eligible from the remaining.

I can enter two. I think I’ll go with “Totem” and “Hills. Painted.” I’ve been wondering if I would have been more successful with sending in “similar” items, but I can’t keep second guessing.

Submitted.

***

That leaves the choices for NWWS.

This is a very competitive show. I think this needs something with an edge. I’m going to submit, “State of the Nation”, “Graceful Grazers”, and “Fly By”. All three strike me as a longshot, but, honestly, you can NEVER tell.\

Paid and submitted.

**

Well, that was an hour and a half of my morning. I need a nap now! Too many choices for a single day.

A friend and I have an ongoing conversation that starts like this: “Should I enter the _____ show? I mean, even if I get in, the shipping will eat up any profit.” Then the other person says, “Well, how close are you to signature status? If you only need one more, it might be worth it.”

The romantic version of an art show is that paintings go on display, are admired by the public, and then purchased. While this occasionally happens, more often a completely different set of priorities is driving the entry process, at least past a certain point.

In theory, the artist takes a class or two and falls in love with the medium. Seeking to gain experience, the new artist joins the _____ Society and pays dues for several years before getting into a show. Thorough addicted to their newfound success, the artist continues to enter club shows and even joins other clubs. More entries, more acceptances, and eventually awards. At this point, the dues paying part of their career is over; now the _____ Society is effectively paying the artist to stick around. The artist can provide lots of benefits to the club, but they have moved beyond needing the affirmation of the ______ Society.

Many artists never get to award status. Instead, they keep chugging along, occasionally getting into a show and always paying their club dues. This is where signature status comes into play. Realizing that artists will not stick around indefinitely with little or no incentive, artist societies have created a signature status system, usually linked to acceptance into shows. For example, five times in ten years or with a point system for each acceptance or award. The idea is a good one, both financially and practically. As I mentioned, it keeps members involved, and it recognizes a certain level of skill that is attained over the years. One of the tricky parts of signature status is that you always have to keep your membership up-to-date or you lose any points you might have gained and have to start over.

But is signature status “worth” anything? Does the general public pay more attention to having “NWS” or “AWS” after a signature? Based on the number of signature-level artists who do not add the affirmative to their signature, it seems likely that signature status falls into the same category as a vanity license plate or monogramed handkerchief.

I am currently chasing two signature statuses. I have signature status from the Watercolor Society of Oregon (WSO), though I have not added the title to my signature. I would very much like to add AAEA (American Academy of Equine Art) to my signature, but it’s going to be a long haul. My other “want” is to add NWWS (North West Watercolor Society) to my repertoire. For that one, you need three acceptances, at least one in the big international show. I’ve been accepted twice into the members show, which is still prestigious. There is very little practical reason for pursuing these markers (see reasons above.) But I do want them. So, I keep trudging along.

This weekend, I made a concerted effort to take it easy. I feel on Friday, and before I even hit the ground, I knew my back was not going to let the incident pass without revenge. So, I took drugs, slow walks with the dog, and all other suggestions. To pass the time, I worked on finishing some projects with the hope of having some inventory to include in the upcoming AAEA, NWWS, and WSO shows.

For the last two years, my luck in guessing what jurors will like for shows has been lousy. So, take a look at these and see if anything jumps out at you as “show worthy.” I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Two years ago (specifically October 2021), I wrote a post about cows. In January 2022, I was notified that my design ideas had been accepted. In the last 18 months, not too much has happened. I was paid for my designs, but the city of Keizer decided to fabricate and install the pieces themselves (a little to my relief). Time ticked on. Then at the end of May, Keizer contacted me and told me the cows would be revealed as part of Keizer’s 40th birthday celebration in mid-June (unfortunately the same weekend as my studio tour.)

The installation happened in the last week, and… well… just look. They are everything I imagined!

There have been a couple of articles on the cows. The first referenced a naming contest for the cows. But the one this week even had a photo of me (I’m famous!) Several of my friends have driven by and say the cows live up to all the hype.

I just know that I LOVE THEM!

Well, it’s over. My first Art on the Edge Studio Tour.

Preparation

This last week has been an ever-increasing blur. I posted very briefly last week about trying to get the studio cleaned up. I worked Monday and Tuesday, then took off Wednesday and Thursday to get everything ready. I’m glad I didn’t take off less time! Between distraction gardening and procrasti-painting, it was all I could do to call it done at the end of the day Thursday.

I was thrilled at how good my new investment of a feather flag with my logo on it looked.

In fact, I was pretty pleased with how the whole place looked in the end.

Expectations

As this was my first year on the tour, I didn’t know what to expect. I had my hopes set low, and–spoiler alert–the reality far exceeded them. Each day around 20 people came through, with Sunday being the biggest day in both volume and sales. As you can see by the photos above, I set up all my various paintings on the counter. priced by size. There were 238 paintings, with at least three more found throughout the weekend. Most people really seemed to enjoy looking through the piles. I would estimate that my clever trick of giving a discount on the second painting worked almost all of the time. Yes! Inventory reduction. I can’t tell you how many paintings actually sold, though I will admit the majority of them were small (5″x7″ matted to 8″x10″) or medium (8″x10″ matted to 11″x14″) and they went in pairs. Still, I sold a fair few in the end.

Somewhat disappointingly, I had trouble getting people to view my framed pieces. I had hung them on the walls in the hall and bathroom. Only one person all weekend went into the bathroom, and I only saw two people go down the hall. I set up some of the framed pieces under the counter or near the fireplace, but they just didn’t seem to “click” as a viewing object for my visitors. I will have to consider how to solve this problem over the next year.

Demos & Paintings

In addition to the work of getting out all the paintings, I set up a couple of demos in case anyone wanted to see my process. These are probably not 100% finished.

I also did some painting when I should have been cleaning or organizing.

currently untitled

On Friday, I also worked on finishing this piece just to ease my nerves.

Scarved

Thank you!

I want to sincerely thank everyone who came by, including friends, family, fellow artists, neighbors, and strangers. If you bought something, I hope you love it as much in your home as you did in my studio. But more than that, watching people react to my (sometimes weird) art really inspired me to keep going. Permit me to recount two of my favorite moments from the weekend.

Stories

On Friday, a group of women came through, clearly enjoying the day and the event. They were probably here for around 40 minutes, and they kept laughing and saying to each other, “Look at this!” as they discovered something else in the art piles. “You never know what you’ll find!” one announced, and I’m considering that for a motto.

The second moment was a little later when a different group came through and they were looking through the paintings. She came across one I did in the Jean Pederson workshop and asked, “What’s the story on this one?” I told her about the workshop and my thoughts behind the painting. She nodded and put it down but came back to it a few minutes later.

Me Too

She returned to the painting twice more before saying, “This one is just speaking to me.”  She didn’t see what I did (I was somewhat vague on my story), but what she saw called to her.

That was something that I found really enjoyable about the weekend. In general, people seemed interested in my process and the (sometimes silly) stories that make up my paintings. While there were people who came through and just gave everything a cursory survey, there were more who asked, “Where is this one?” or “What’s this story?”

Next Year

Next year’s studio tour will be June 28-30, 2024. So, mark your calendars… I have.

In twelve days, the Art on the Edge Studio Tour shall commence. Am I ready? Of course not.

I mean, I’ve taken care of the basics. Hired someone to clean the house. Made sure the lawn would be mowed. I have even taken the shockingly practical step of ordering a credit card device.

But am I ready? No.

I’m torn about how tidy the house has to be, how the art should be labelled, what to do about demos.

And so, rather than making any of those decisions, I painted this weekend.

None of these are finished and really intended “for” anything. I just wanted to paint.

“Followers”

“Space”

“Totem”

All jokes aside, it’s been a busy weekend. I’ve tried to get as many things as possible “cleared up” so the house and yard look as good as possible. I’ve tackled some projects and blasted through to do items.

Please forgive me for not writing a great post. I’ll write something better soon!

Sometimes, at a workshop or event, an instructor will make a grand pronouncement. “Phalo blue is an awful color!” Or, “Square paintings are boring.” And while I may agree (or disagree), I tend to take these pronouncements with a grain of salt. That’s their opinion. Sometimes there is a reason. Sometimes even a good reason. But it’s an opinion. Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of backlash about technique. I’ve had several teachers proclaim that, “You should never notice the painter’s technique.”

What I think the cognescenti are objecting to is artists who attend a workshop where the leader uses a particular technique that is so recognizable that when the students take it back to their own studio, the painting ends up looking like a copy. An example might be Audrey Hepburn’s black dress and pearls or Jacqueline Kennedy in Chanel; it isn’t that you can’t rock that look, but you better not say you came up with it. Jackson Pollock’s splatters remain their own, inimitable achievement. Piet Mondrain continues to own squares and white cancas.

So, when I set out to use up my liquid charcoal by spreading it lavishly on a piece of Yupo, I immediately had concerns. Would this just be a technique exercise? Would anyone be able to see my goals? I’m not sure the painting below is finished, but I’ll leave it to you. Is this too much technique and not enough content?

” I’ll Sctach Your Back…” – Liquid charcoal on Yupo

Art on the Edge… approaches

Friday was the opening of the Art on the Edge Artist Exhibit. The show will be up through July 2. The maps have now been updated on the web, and if anyone would like me to mail them an information packet, just let me know. Under two weeks until the tour!

Here’s a video of the exhibition, led by Krista Eddy, the visual artist director.

I hope you’ve made plans to come visit!