How NOT to Exhibit Art in a Show

I'm sure that I am not the only artist that gets a little warm fuzzy feeling upon seeing their work hung in a gallery with other inspiring works of art. After all, not only can you and your friends and family make a night out of going to the opening reception and a yummy restaurant, but you know you will not be showing said friends and family embarrassingly crappy artwork, because someone else has already validated it by choosing it for this exhibit. (Insecure, moi?) For me that process has been on the back burner for a number of years as I dealt with other issues, but earlier this year I started to peruse the call for art listings and chose two local shows I wanted to submit to. One in Dallas and one in my own town of Fort Worth.


So I did the difficult selection process, and the almost as difficult titling and pricing. Only paintings that were already adequately photographed were in the running. Dimensions were recorded, files were renamed, and the submissions with their artful (one hopes) images were sent off into the world of web. (And for those of us who were artists back in the day, isn't that a wonderful step up from having to get slides made and physically mailing them out?)

Then I planned for my trip to visit my friend in California for her birthday, all the while imagining how excited I would be if my paintings were accepted. I may have even mentally composed a FB post announcing my inclusion in the show.

Well.... after a lovely visit, during which, I assure you, I did check my emails and other essential media via my cell phone, I thought, Hmm, let's just check on those art submissions.

Joy! Two of my recent paintings were selected for the FWCAC show. Great news, especially as this is a place Edward and I make a point to visit when we are available for their monthly gallery openings. They have several usually themed rooms, and always have some cool and interesting art. 
Sorrow! Because the intake of the art happened while I was in California, and I totally missed it.

This cringe-causing statement was in the Congratulations! acceptance message, If you do not respond with the information above in a timely fashion, we will assume you will not be able to participate. Sigh.

So, here are the two pieces that would have been in the exhibit.

Swan Lake Haiku   acrylic on canvas


Can you see the swan?

The Drawing of the Moon  acrylic and pen and pencil on canvas

Both of these paintings have as their base a really interesting painting technique that I have been experimenting with for a while, fluid acrylic pour painting. So many marvelous results can be created with this technique, both as final products and as incredible backgrounds for further work.

So, to avoid this kind of disappointment, (because, given the post title, there must be a moral to this story) always read the details carefully, be aware of when the gallery or institution will be making its decision, and aware of when the intake of art will happen.

{In addendum: I want to acknowledge that I did, early this year, have some paintings in an absolutely lovely local gallery, The Grackle, accepted in a less formal way than I have talked about here. More about that later.}

More Small Stories, Mixed Media Collage

First of all -

Happy Halloween!

"Orange Man" carved by Edward

I've just finished straightening up in GIMP some more of the Small Stories series of small collages on poplar wood panels. This batch starts the ones that I made most recently, from mid-September to mid-October. Sometimes it seems that tinkering around with the images to get the colors and everything right takes longer than making the pieces...today is one of those times.

Small Stories 10

Small Stories 11

Small Stories 12

Small Stories 13

Thanks once again to the Graphics Fairy for the vintage hand in the last collage.
This post i linked here.

Small Stories, Collage on Wood

 

Small Stories 5, Mixed Media Collage

Today I'm posting the rest of the Small Stories series of fun little mixed media collages on wood that I did in the spring. (I have a bunch more to get the imaging right on that I did over the last couple of months. I seem to work in spurts as far as different projects go...a few weeks or months of intense collage or glass fusing or mosaics or....)

Small Stories 6 Mixed Media Collage

These are 5 1/2 inch square on poplar board that I cut, sanded down and sealed with a couple of coats before I started painting and pasting.

Small Stories 7, Mixed Media Collage

Linked to collections here and here.

First Painting of 2009

R says it goes the other way, horizontal. Of course she had a whole story about a house by the beach, or maybe on an island, with lots of detail about what all the elements are. I always enjoy her interpretations of art and her great imagination. My own thoughts on the different bits in the paintings and usually of the meaning or subject of the painting itself are almost always a lot more vague, more open ended.

Happy Halloween, Samhain and Storybook Parade

Today's work of art:

Watch out or you'll get hexed.
R as Bellatrix LaStrange
at the school Storybook Parade

I don't have anything new ready to post, but I do have this small collage from a year or so ago in seasonal colors - much more orange than I usually use.

Fabric and paper collage with
acrylic painted papers 5x7

Also, check out my Etsy site for views of Divination, an acrylic on canvas diptych I painted a few weeks ago. (One of the ones I was struggling to photography well the other day.)

May you all get all the candy corn and chocolate you wish for!