I had a cold this week. At first I thought it was allergies, then it was a cold, and by the end of the week I called the doctor to ask for antibiotics because it had morphed into a sinus infection. Basically, all this means is I sulked around blowing my nose. I’m NOT a good patient.
On Friday evening, however, I ventured out of the house to attend the opening reception for the Emerald Arts Center.
It’s considered bad taste to take pictures of other people’s art, so I will only show my piece. However, the top slider for the Emerald Art Center website shows off some of the best pieces of the show.
As i was sitting there at the reception (trying hard not to blow my nose too hard) it occurred to me that I haven’t entered many shows except those put on by WSO…. or at least I haven’t been to many receptions.
When I liked about this one (besides the excellent food) was that the juror, my friend, Ruth Armitage (who I had sort of not noticed was the juror, so it was nice to see her there) gave a critique of every piece in the show. I got a couple of good suggestions that I will take when the painting comes back from the show. I am hopeful, with those changes, that this may be an entry for the WSO fall show.
I was not surprised I did not get an award (it was a really high quality show that I was flattered just to get into), but several other artists came up to me and told me how strong they thought my piece was, which is always nice to hear.
Saturday I attended another reception, this one for the May show on flowers at the Keizer Art Association. I had my eye on this show for my painting, “Ensata” for a while.
In addition to the “normal” part of the show, paintings of iris were eligible for the Keizer “poster” contest (the city of Keizer has an iris festival each year.)
Some of the iris entries in the poster contest, including mine. I think these images are small enough that there is no danger of plagiarism issues.
For a small show, it was a strong one. I did not receive any awards at this show either, which I admit hurt my feelings a little.
Still, at least I’m “out there” again.