Riverside Art Museum Membership Show

For the second year I entered a painting into the Riverside Art Museum.

Arriving at the reception. Quite well attended.

I got there a little after the reception started and soon got talking to a lady named Anita Sylvestri.  She is a docent at the museum and has a painting in the show.

Quite a variety of mediums!

Anita had a mixed media collage in the show.

Anita Sylvestri with ‘The Impossible Dream’

We both explained our work to each other.

She returned the favor and took a pic of me with my painting.

When the awards were given, Anita won best of show!

 

The Puppy project

Riverside Art Museum is holding a fundraiser called Art Bark in the Park to which I applied and was assigned a pup. I decided to paint the pup in oil – a skyscape with lawns on the bottom of each paw with dogs on, and my sonnet about dogs painted into the clouds.  So far I’ve done the sky and the lawns.  I will need to wait a week or so until that is dry enough to add the dogs and poems.  I didn’t know until I picked up the dog that I was getting a beagle.

The blank canvas. I’d had to fix the undercoat in a few places. The difference in undercoat color won’t affect the painting.

My fellow artist Mary Foote came over to see this as a demo so took some photos of me in action

I was showing Mary how to blend clouds in oil

Photographed this one at an angle to get the entire dog in.

And it’s possible to paint on the back, so I have another canvas to dream up!

Joshua Tree Art Gallery Expo

Yesterday evening I drop up to Joshua Tree for the reception for the Joshua Tree Art Gallery Expo.  The show had some awards to give from Jack Farley Art Supplies, and a people’s choice award. (I didn’t receive any, though.)  The reception was very well attended, though I think most were the artists themselves (for the award ceremony).

My second favorite was the yellow one in the middle.

White dresses must be in.

My favorite is on the left. And that was before I knew that the piece was titled the Salton Sea!

My paintings are at the back opposite the door, but there are people all around them.

….eventually she will wander off…..

…hmm di hmm, maybe take a photo here….

…eventually the girl on the phone was joined by a friend and I asked them to step aside for a minute!

Forever Home #2

Occasionally I get to bring a painting to its forever home in person.  Sunday evening (very late because the Strawberry Festival runs until 6:30pm) I got to stop by this client’s home to show her a painting she’d seen on my phone when we were talking about round paintings.  Theme and Variations was – is still – one of my favorite creations which explains why it spent most of its life in my bathroom – until last weekend.  Now it lives in a home office in Westlake Village.

And the lighting is just right!

Shakin up the Arts

Each year there is a ‘Shakin up the Arts’ show at the Carmen Durazo Center in Calexico.  This year the show was just about equally divided between high school students and adult artist entries.

Some of the adult entries

There was quite a crowd at the reception

Some more adult entries.

The support pillars are ideal places for the small artworks

The one on the left was my favorite in the whole show

Artist Sherry Nash and I met and discussed work – this is one of her mixed media pieces

Sherry also does acrylic pours

Some more of the student work. This young lady had no qualms about asking me whether I liked her painting!

There were some 3-d pieces also.

Reality is Overrated show

I entered three paintings into the Collage Artists of America show ‘Reality is Overrated’ and one was accepted.  I was delighted that I was able to make the reception at the Betsy Lueke Creative Arts Center in Burbank.  Amazingly I arrived on time after setting up for the art fair in Calabasas, with a little help from my Airbnb host on confirming that my alternate route would be good. 

There was quite a crowd there that evening.

There were awards (though I didn’t get one)

Just thought I’d take a photo op with my child.

In the spotlight!

This morning I got an email from one of the art websites I work with – storiestoart.com.  This is a little different that most art websites – although they do offer artwork, they actively promote commissions both of artwork, poetry and songs.  And the staff have been wonderful people to work with!

I and another artist, Philip Lindsey, are the featured artists in this email.