Summer's Almost Over

I don't know if the following link will work but it is a link to our photos from our trip out West this Summer. Link Photos

My boys had a fun filled Summer and I showed my art a lot. I showed in June with the glass artists, Sarah Hinds and Sky Campbell, and subsequently got a show with them at the Thomas Center Gallery. The show entitled Reflections Beyond Time and Space will be in the Fall of 2009. My painting,Festival Tree, was excepted into the juried exhibition at the Thomas Center in July. I was pleased because I have been rejected for the last four years after having three pieces accepted in 2003. The reception was a lot of fun with all of the women artists from Melrose Bay Gallery getting in. I'm glad to confirm that I keep good company.
I did the Art Walk downtown at the end of July. I feel like the general public like my narrative/symbolic image paintings and that artists and art critics like the more abstract paintings based on nature. I like it when I start with the abstract and it turns into something unexpected like "Leaving It Behind". I haven't done any good paintings of late. I think because I am not starting enough at one time. Hopefully I will get back on schedule soon. But since I am preparing to teach my first college class I don't know how soon. The text for the class is fabulous, Launching the Imagination. It almost covers everything you need to know about making any kind of art. It has me asking myself if I have enough reasons why I am creating what I do. Do I need more reasons for choosing acrylic paint and pine trees for abstract inspiration?

I also fell in love with the work of two new-to-me artists this Summer. Chris Natrop, www.chrisnatrop.com and Peter Doig. I love the paintings Doig was doing around 1990-91. So what do you think? Do I need to make my art and medium choice have more of a purpose?