ADIEU TO 2013

Another year has come and gone.  Last December we survived the Mayan apocalypse; this year we survived the ravages of snow, ice and the floods they left behind.  Wonder what’s in store for 2014?

2013 was a pretty good year for me.  My artwork was accepted into:

• Rising Sun 11^th Annual Juried Exhibit
• Woman’s Art Club 120^th Juried Exhibit
• Georgia Watercolor 34^th National Juried Art Show
• 45^th Annual ViewPoint National Juried Exhibit
• Ohio Watercolor Society 36^th Annual Juried Show (Signature status)
• Georgia Watercolor Society Annual Signature Member Show
• Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s 34^th Annual International Juried Exhibition
• Georgia Watercolor Society Annual Juried Member’s Show – 3^RD Place Award
• Watercolor Society of Indiana Annual Juried Member’s Show - Award
• National Watercolor Society 92^nd Annual Exhibit traveling show

One of the bloggers recently mentioned how many paintings she had produced this year which prompted me to go back and count.  I came up with 8 completed, not counting any I did for classes.  Even though I knew the tally would be low, I’m disappointed in myself.  Perhaps I will do a quick recount, 8 seems terribly low volume! 
(Well, DUH, I just did a quick recount and came up with 13 - didn't check the "bin" paintings!)

Since my term as President of Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society will be over in March, and I don’t plan on taking on any more administrative responsibilities, perhaps this year I’ll be able to get at least** one painting a month completed – that seems like a reasonable thing to accomplish, even as slowly as I paint.  

** Note to self - "Deb, this means you can paint MORE THAN ONE PAINTING A MONTH"!

Here’s hoping that 2014 will be a productive, profitable, happy and healthy year for all of us!

H A P P Y  N E W  Y E A R!

5th Annual Watermedia Showcase

Today I’m sharing an exciting honor that I just learned about.

My painting Ying Yang Mums - the painting featured at the top of my blog (also in the 2012 NWS show) - was accepted into the Watermedia Showcase – I’m thrilled!

Until I saw my name “in print” on the internet site – see the “blurb” below – I didn’t really believe it.  I cannot believe that my painting placed, while paintings from some amazing and well known artists received honorable mentions.

Yikes.

I intend to enjoy my time in the spot light – you know how that light can fade quickly! 

From the Watercolor Artist Website:

The recipe for a good painting can be boiled down to seven basic elements: line, shape, form, space, color, value and texture. But a great painting possesses something else as well—an additional ingredient that draws us in again and again and continually offers up new discoveries to ponder and appreciate, something beyond a display of technical prowess. Just what that extra special quality is can be difficult to pinpoint, but the artists who took prizes in this year’s Watermedia Showcase have got it in spades.

Today, I’m happy to announce the names of this year’s winners!

Best in Show
Joseph Alleman

2^nd Place
Xi Guo

3^rd Place
Laurin McCracken

4^th Place
Deb Ward

Honorable Mentions
Deborah Chabrian
Jill Krasner
Denny Bond
Johne Richardson
Mark McDermott
Keiko Tanabe
Laurie Goldstein-Warren
Chinmaya Panda
Ali Cavanaugh
Yuki Hall

In the coming weeks, my Watercolor Artist teammates and I will be working to put together the showcase issue (April 2014), which includes reproductions of all 14 exceptional watercolors as well as profiles of the prizewinning artists. The  issue will hit newsstands next year in mid-February, but subscribers will get the first peek around the first week of the month. (If you’re not already a Watercolor Artist subscriber, click here to subscribe today, and make sure you don’t miss this issue).

It was a highly competitive year, with an abundance of wonderful watercolor work. Congratulations to all who won this year, and best of luck to all those who enter next year’s competition!

—Kelly Kane, Editor-in-Chief

MORE SHOWS AND STUFF

First, you are probably aware that my posts have been few and far between lately. That’s partly because I’ve been too busy to get online - - and because I’m having problems with the internet – not sure if it’s Yahoo, or just because of all of the commotion over the Boston Bombers and the ‘net has been overloaded. Anyway – hang in there and I’ll post when I can until this problem resolves itself (as most computer problems usually do).

I received a surprise call from two good friends who were at the Southern Arts Society in Kings Mountain, NC to see the National Watercolor Society traveling show!

They were reporting in – “live” - to tell me what a great venue it was (an old renovated train depot) and how beautiful all of the paintings looked! I was told that my painting was hanging next to Cindy Brabec-King and facing Nick Simmons! Also hanging on the walls were paintings by Kathleen Conover, Dean Mitchell, Carol Frye and Cheng Khee Chee, to name a few.

WOW!

I was excited to know that my painting is traveling around the country and hanging next to some of the “big names” in the watercolor world. This may never happen again, so I’m gonna enjoy it while it lasts!

Then I received word that my painting “Japanese Tea” will be in the Rising Sun, IN spring juried show. Wish me luck!

As a side note - the painting that won an award in the WACC show was also entered in the Rising Sun show - and didn't even make it in!  See - what did I tell you - this just goes to prove how subjective judging a show is!

OWS AND NWS TRAVELING SHOWS

If you are interested in seeing either of these traveling shows - click onto the appropriate page on the left to find out if any of the travel venues might be close to you. 

Unfortunately, the closest NWS will get to my area will be in Michigan - quite a long drive for me!

RANDOM THOUGHTS - ABOUT SHIPPING

I have a really good friend who will ship my paintings via UPS for me. I do the leg work and get the forms together, but I think she does the really hard part of getting it all organized, put together and sent on its way. Since the packages will then come back to her, she also has to find someplace safe to store them until we see each other – and to protect them from her husband and son who seem to want to destroy them for me! The first time my box was returned, the guys thought it was a piece of useless junk and tossed it outside.

JUNK???? I use the Airfloat boxes which are great – but, let’s face it, once something has gone through the UPS facility and on to a UPS truck (no offense to the UPS drivers who I know do the best job they can) and off that truck and delivered – well, some damage will be done. When I received my brand new box – shipped from the Airfloat company to me – there were oil spots and a “ding” in the side. I know they didn’t ship it from their factory that way – but that was just the normal “wear and tear” – and that was only its first trip! By the 2nd or 3rd trip the boxes look like they have seen battle in Afghanistan (and I’m not sure who won!).

RANDOM THOUGHTS - QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS . . .

As part of the acceptance process for both the OWS and the NWS show, I was asked to answer questions/statements for the show.

Whenever I’m asked for my “artist statement” or to answer artistic questions, I always feel a little like a Miss America contestant – my mind immediately begins to swirl and my inner blonde awakens! What kind of information do they REALLY want – should I try to sound “artsy” – do they want some high brow “art speak” – will my answer sound stupid – what the heck does this MEAN? – who really cares?

You get the drift.

So I wrote up my answers, reading and re-reading them until I finally gave up and sent in the form.

Hope they serve whatever purpose they were intended, and no one thinks (or knows) that I’m a real dope about those things.

. . . AND MORE SHOWS

Ying Yang Mums (Watercolor)

Yikes . . . they keep on coming!

In a previous post I mentioned that my painting "Ying Yang Mums" got into the NWS Annual show.  Since then I've learned that it will be a part of the traveling show which will tour the country for a year following the exhibit.  AND - my friend Chris Beck let me know that they used my image on their postcard!

Yesterday I learned that my painting "Flights of Fancy" is accepted into the Georgia Juried Member's show.

Flights of Fancy (Watercolor)

Something bizarre must be happening to the Universe - maybe the Mayan legend is true - the world really is coming to an end!

Unfortunately, I didn't have any pieces to send to NWS for signature review (all the "good ones" were out in shows).  But who cares, I'm happy and thrilled to be in that show, as well as the others.  And, in the scheme of things, that's not really a bad "problem" to have.

SHOWS

See my sidebar for upcoming shows.

I was asked to juror the Bethesda North show this year and I'm a nervous wreck about it.  Since I've so often been on the receiving end of a judge's decision, I'm well aware of how an artist feels if their work is not accepted into a show.  This is a huge responsiblity and I take it very seriously - and I don't want to mess it up!  

If you are interested in entering the Bethesda North show, it is for artists within a 50-mile radius of Cincinnati, Ohio.  You can click on the link for more info or to request a prospectus.

Two of my paintings were accepted (one each!) into ViewPoint ("Flights of Fancy") and the Ohio Watercolor Society show ("Oriental Roses").

We have two Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society shows coming up.  The first is at Kennedy Heights Arts Center, located about 2 miles south of Kenwood Mall, and I hope you will be able to either attend the opening or drop in some day while the show hangs.  This is a great facility and I'm so looking forward to this new venue for our Society.  The fall show will be at Evergreen Retirement Center and we will have 3 cash prizes.

And, last but certainly not least, my painting "Ying Yang Mums" (April 25, 2012 post) was accepted into the National Watercolor Society 92nd Annual Juried Exhibit!  YIKES!  I had to pick myself up off the floor for that one and re-read the email twice to verify what it said!

PHOTO OP AND AN ART RELATED ITEM

Yesterday I waited until mid afternoon for the sun to come out as our local forecasters had promised. As soon as I saw a light glow in the sky I got together some items for still life set ups and ran outside. I managed to get a few good shots that may be paint worthy, but I got a couple very interesting photos of butterflies.

I noticed this group sitting on a concrete footer. They were all flapping their wings and eating, I guess. What, I have no idea. I just found this interesting since I’ve never seen that many together at once. Maybe some of you know what type of butterflies these are, and what they could be doing??

AND NOW FOR THE ART RELATED ITEM:
Go to the NWS website and check out the front page – top left. That’s a painting by my good friend and one of the annual painting retreat ladies, Cora Mae Pipkin.
She’s probably going to be mad at me for putting up this info but I’ll chance it - I’m so happy for her and proud of her.

Way to go lady!