Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Decompression Following the Festivals


The Nirvanic Calm Following the Festival Storm--already it's Wednesday, and it feels as though I just finished breaking down the tent, packing up the display antique door panels, loading crates of art and journeying back home (though I completed that three nights ago).

I am still weary, not having slept adequately the past ten nights (usually "wired" with the events surrounding me), but have returned to the health club after a week's hiatus, and am confident that the strength and energy will return.

Nearly every aspect of the past festival activities was a success. I won an honorable mention at the Plein Aire event, and with it came a large case of Liquitex heavy body acrylic tubes. More importantly, I was given the critique passed on by the judge (Bruce Peil, an accomplished plein aire artist who conducts workshops at his bed-and-breakfast in Athens, Texas). He noted that my drawing skills were good, but my shadows were dead, due to my dependence on black. He encouraged me to look more intently at the shadows, and see how they fluctuate between the warm and cool colors. He proposed mixing Cadmium Red and Ultramarine Blue for my "black" to paint as a base in the shadows. I plan to put this theory to work in my very next plein aire painting (which would have been today, had it not been so dark and overcast--and I still so tired!).

The other watercolors from the Waxahachie Paint Out are already posted. I was pleased to have sold the Honorable Mention winner--"Waxahachie Commerce" (headlining the previous blog post), along with the one titled "Not Coming Back" (previous blog) as well as the one painted during the Quick Draw on the opening day of festivities.

The Mansfield Festival went very well, with many pieces being sold, along with a surprise sale of one of my acrylic canvases, a Van Gogh-style painting called "Vincent's Dream" (posted at the top of today's blog). I wouldnt' have traded my conversations with fasinating festival patrons that day for anything in the world.

The Waxahachie Gingerbread Trail festival, in which I participated only Sunday (Mansfield the day before) was not so great, though I sold more work than I paid out in booth fees (so technically, not a loss), and I met many, many wonderful people and was given several significant leads. I also found out during that day that my watercolors had sold in the Chatauqua Pavilion from the plein aire event. I think the greatest part of Sunday was getting to visit with several of the plein aire artists again, including Ted Clemens, winner of the Best in Show at plein air, and Kent Brewer, another Honorable Mention winner.

I also came across a great blog from Tina Bohlman, First Place winner of the Waxahachie plein aire Paint Out, who also is featured in my recent Facebook photo album. Here is the link to her blog, which covers the Waxahachie event: http://tinabohlman.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-place-award.html

So, what now? Well, tonight I will attend my first meeting of the Southwestern Watercolor Society, which I joined last week. This would not have happened had I not had the surprise pleasure of meeting their Correspondence Secretary during the Waxahachie Quick Draw event (literally, in the middle of the event, while I was painting!). After visiting with her, I was convinced that this was a society I needed to join. I cannot wait to draw from their rich reservoir of resources.

And . . . right now my studio is knee-deep in crap. This happens especially in the weeks leading up to a gallery show or festival (and I have just finished both), when I stop putting things neatly away, drag out mats, foam core backing, art supplies, etc.--and the junk just turns my studio into a storage shed that can no longer be navigated. I have successully cleaned out and organized my huge closet--now I only have to do the same with the studio proper--none of this of course is interesting.

I'm never sure if anyone reads these blogs, but I'm dying to talk to other artists. If you're a "creator" (of art visual, literary or musical), would like to recommend three books I have just finished reading, and they're changing my life. They are written by accomplished artists/lecturers, and really hit the nerve of the creative process. They are:

Art & Fear, by David Bayles & Ted Orland
Creative Authenticy, by Ian Roberts
The View from the Studio Door: How Artists Find their Way in an Uncertain World, by Ted Orland

Until later then . . .

1 comment:

KC said...

My six-year-old is obsessed with Van Gogh for some reason, so I showed her all the pictures on this blog and she said, "Is that first one by VanGogh??". I told her, no a former teacher of mine painted it. So after looking through all the others, she proclaimed, "Vincent's Dream is my absolute favorite!!". =)

At least it's the "good kind" of exhaustion you're feeling now!

~KC Askew-Campbell