I was recently invited to join Alessandro Berni gallery for representation in their online gallery. In the last few days we dotted the is and crossed the ts and this morning I was one of the new artists introduced in their mailing.
Dear Jeni,
Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that one or more of your entries have been chosen for inclusion in the 3rd Annual Lines, Shapes & Objects (June 2021) Online Juried Art Exhibition.
Your participation in the competition is very much appreciated as it helped to ensure a diverse body of work from which selections were made.
Please visit the exhibition on our website starting tomorrow, June 5th, to see the exhibition winners and all the beautiful artwork that was selected for inclusion in the exhibition.
Award certificates will be sent to the winners no later than the 15th of the month. If you won Best in Show, your award payments will be sent via PayPal by the 15th. Best in Show winners will also receive an email in the Fall with the details for the Annual Group Show in Palm Springs in 2022.
Thank you again for your participation and sharing your talent with us. We’re honored you chose Fusion Art.
Sincerely,
Chris & Valerie Hoffman
Fusion Art
Here was my submission, “Cloud Castles” Watercolor collage, 9.5×7.5 in mat to 12×10″. $65:
I love seeing paintings in their ‘Foreverhome’ – brings closure to having sent your children out into the void, to see where they landed. One of my recent sales goes to a collector who now has a brood of five of my little ones, and he graced me with pictures of their new residence. His face really isn’t like that but as he ended up in one of the photos too, I gave him a little more anonymity!
I have a tree painted on the back of my garage with leaves made from pieces of soda cans, stapled loosely so that they rustle delightfully in the breeze. Against the trunk is painted ‘The wind of change may not blow you someplace different but it might shape you into something more beautiful’.
I write this on the cusp between the Covid shutdowns and the George Floyd riots. Many businesses have been shuttered so long they may not survive. Some have been so impacted by the new health restrictions imposed on reopening, they have given up. Now we see others burned or looted out of existence and yet others may be unwilling to continue in some neighborhoods.
I have a friend who has been through several careers. She describes the changes as getting to a point where she needed to reinvent herself. This year it seems many will need to reinvent themselves or make adjustments to how they live or work.
One of the adjustments I’ve been considering is to make some work more easily shippable, so it is less prohibitive to sell online. I decided to experiment a little with refractured acrylics on canvas; lighter weight than panels, but also a different medium for the refractured part. The first experiment (above) was relatively successful.
Another couple items that came out of spending time at home was an update to ‘Busting the Bard’. This is now available in paperback and kindle from Amazon. And the fourth poetry and painting book ‘My Next Breath’ is close to being complete. (Click here for links.) It is available as a paperback but my proofreader and the person writing an intro on the back have yet to have time to do this, so there will be an update hopefully by the end of this week and I’ll create the kindle version then. I’ll order hard copies once art fairs restart or other outlets need restocking, but if you’d like to get a signed copy let me know.
I will have work in two online shows:
Jun 6-Jul 12: 6x6x2020 Online fundraiser for Rochester Contemporary Art Center
Jun 2nd-Aug 30th (approx) The Planet of Joy at Lark Gallery Online. This may develop into a physical gallery show next month and I should be on a Q&A Virtual Art Talk on Zoom soon. I’ll send another email when this is set.
This is the last of a series of collages available in mats.
#1427 Fit Together. Watercolor collage on foamcore, 7.5×5.5 in mat to fit 10×8″ frame. $45.
Includes the words “It will all fit together beautifully”.
Yes, it is possible to sell art during the pandemic. A major collector saw one of my ‘Newer Work’ posts and decided to treat herself. I’m not only blessed with the sale, but also the pic of the painting in its new Forever Home. Although she says she might move things around.
The painting is called “Sky Comes Down”.
It contains the following haiku:
Sky comes down to us,
At every angle the rain
that might wash us clean.
Sometimes you just gotta love something….enough to let it show.
#1426 Blue Heart. Watercolor collage on foamcore, 7.5×5″ in mat to fit 10×8″ frame. $45. Free shipping.
Contains the words “Let your blue heart show through the haze”.
Pretty apropos of the current situation.
#1424 “Without Darkness”. Watercolor collage on foamcore, 7.5×5 in mat to fit 10×8″ frame. $45, free shipping.
Contains the words “Without darkness we would not appreciate the light.”
Here’s April’s monthly newsletter. Despite the fact that all shows and classes are cancelled there’s always something to do around the studio! More spider tomorrow!!!
Skyscapes for the Soul - Jeni Bate 