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Jazz Buddies (watercolor on Aquabord) $300
My instrument show, “The Sound of Paint” opened Today at Art in the Valley, and continues through the end of November. Reception Thursday, November 3rd at 5:00 pm.
I hung the paintings Sunday and I’m very pleased with the way they look. In addition to the instrument paintings, there will be a selection of matted original watercolors and a selection of my animal sculpture.
"Three Horns" (watercolor on canvas 16 x 16 inches) $400
Sundown on the Broken Dock (watercolor 12 x 16)
I have five admit-two-free tickets to the March 27-28th, Spring Best of the Northwest Art and Fine Craft at theWarren G Magnuson Park. Admission is ordinarily $7.00 per person so the tickets are worth $14.00 each. I’ll mail one ticket each to the first five people to send me their Washington mailing address at jennyarmitage@dancingfeatherstudio.com.
Update: just three tickets left at noon PST.
Georgia in the Morning (11 x 14)
Twixt Wind and Water
I thought after sculpting for half a decade, I’d developed a pretty thick skin about displaying and selling my artwork. But I’ve discovered that my sculpture calluses provide no protection whatsoever for my tender painting skin. Rejection and acceptance still matter more than they should.
I’m not sure why this is so. It may be because somewhere in the back of my brain I only consider paintings to be “real” art. But I don’t think so. I’ve admired too much sculpture and photography to believe that. It might be because it’s new to me, but I’m not sure it’s that either. I don’t think I was ever this raw about sculpture or quilting shows. I think the answer is simply that there is a great deal more of me in my paintings than there is in my sculpture, quilts or photos. But whatever the reason, when I submit my paintings I itch as I’ve never itched over applications before.
Grandma Braids
But getting paintings hung in galleries, art shows, and art festivals requires submissions followed by (gasp) acceptances and rejections. I’ve just begun to put my toes in the water. My paintings now hang at Art in the Valley, where my sculpture has already littered the shelves for a few years now. And in addition to the Oregon State Fair this past August, I’ll have my paintings in at least two art fairs. Each of those acceptances mattered in a way sculpture acceptances haven’t mattered for years. Nor would I have considered any of these shows a big deal for sculpture. In fact, I’ve been in these fairs for years. But they mattered for paintings all the same.
In addition to art fairs I’ve begun applying to watercolor societies. Signature membership in watercolor societies is the entrance to watercolor society shows as their shows are often member only. I applied to the Watercolor Society of Oregon earlier this month. The three paintings shown in this post are the painting I submitted to them for active membership. Yesterday the acceptance came. I’m very happy, ridiculously happy given the that the prize is membership dues, and the right to submit paintings to shows.
Leafy Camel (6 x 4) polymerclay
When I started this blog, I intended to emulate the daily painting bloggers and create a painting a day. Alas, life gets in the way and some days the house, the husband, the children, the garden and friends take up too much time to allow for painting. Thank heavens they do. And I often want to do bigger projects than I can possibly paint in a day. So my actual practice has been more like a painting every other day.
Now the art fair season is upon me. This weekend I’ll be at the Wilsonville Festival of the Arts, selling, not my paintings, but my sculpture. And after this show I’ll need to start sculpting again if I’m going to meet my show commitments this summer and fall. And I always meet my art show commitments.
So this blog may slow to a painting every two to three days. But there will be more paintings. There will indeed. I can’t help it. I’m obsessed.
