Always Learning

I am varnishing all of the paintings I have done over the last few months and I am starting to appreciate some of them more and more. I see that I have been in an expressive brush stroke phase. Doing more brushstrokes I believe is a result of attending the Skip Lawerence workshop. At the time I didn't know what if anything I was getting from that but I did grow and change. And brushstrokes were not his focus for the workshop. My earlier acrylic paintings were more like watercolors because I was using lots of fluid medium. I would like to do some paintings that combine the two more successfully. Lots of variation with thin washed areas, brush strokes with heavier paint and maybe even some collaged paper. With all of that, I have learned the shape and composition will need to be simpilier.

A Time for Compassion

What does anyone think of this new painting? I think maybe it is too cutesy. I am wondering why I am not getting the unique results of former mixed media sketches in my paintings. One theory I have is that I am getting too heavy handed with paint too soon. I like some of my former paintings that started as liquid subtle washes really watery paint mixing out of control and then I clarified with purposeful heavier strokes. I am anxious to try again but I need to get ready for two upcoming shows May 5th and 6th.



Speaking of cute. I can't resist posting my two sons photo from yesterday.

Houses in the Wind

This painting will always remind me of hearing the news of the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Ironically, I was thinking of the houses I painted while being a graduate student at Radford University near Blacksburg, Va. yesterday morning and finished this painting yesterday before I heard the news. My husband got his undergraduate degree and did his post doctorate at Virginia Tech. I always think of it as being home, I didn't want to leave when we moved to Florida. My thoughts and prayers are with all of them there.

Juried Show

I had a painting accepted into the tenth annual International Society of Acrylic Painters exhibition to be held in the San Luis Obispo Art Center in California, May 5 through June 17. So it will be showing if I can follow the shipping instructions correctly. I wish I was going to the California coast with it, sounds fun.
My husband says I am not as excited as I should be. For me I would feel more validated if it was one of the pieces I am working on now. I have gone back to finding a narrative during the painting process, I feel this is the way I want to work the most. The accepted piece was from last year when I was working on composition and not allowing myself to find images. But it is one of my favorite pieces from last year and I know it came from me and was a result of my previous work. So I fell good about the piece. What I am really excited about is that I get to send a brochure for the gallery's binder. So on that I can put other work and my blog site and hopefully get some feed back. I have been rejected from the juried show at the Thomas Center Gallery here in town lots of times so this is much better than that. The first year I entered there, I had all three pieces accepted but zero since then. Those first three were single figures with layering not narratives. So I worry that my narrative work is not serious-looking enough to be accepted into juried shows. But I don't want to comform just keep following my path.