It's interesting to see gatherings of work, to catch the visual flow and rhythm that comes with a body; so often a show composed of one piece each seems to be a collection of punctuation points:  !  ?  & : !.  and therein lies my personal illumination:  it's time to be a more effective communicator, more coherent as it were, and less of a ! and then a !  and then another !.   (What can I say, I'm excitable....)

   As an aside, I picked up another red ribbon to add to my collection.  It's a pretty interesting phenomenon, having only red ribbons and no other colors, and I'm not sure of what to make of it.  Don't get me wrong,  I'm not disappointed- far from it- but at this juncture I am a wee bit puzzled at the lack of color variation.  If any one else wants to chime in here and offer a theory of how one manages to only come in second (not first, not third, not honorable mention) with no judge repeated, no venue represented twice, and moreover, no first place winner repeated either, please do.  It's a mystery.

   Thanks to the staff of the Courthouse Galleries for doing such a great job hanging the show,  Howard Martinez of the TAA for his work organizing it, and congratulations to Catherine Mein on her blue ribbon- your work is lovely;  I'll have to go back and see it when there aren't so many heads in the way.

   Anyhoo- it seems like there's been a lot of that going on over the last few weeks, but now things are winding down, and with any luck at all, there'll be more time in the studio.  Before launching in to the next big project, I wanted to paint up a new portrait sample, something I wouldn't have to borrow back, so I decided to finally paint up one of my favorite images of Miss. S..  "Ruby Slippers".  A few more sessions and she'll be done and ready for framing.                                                                         

I found out yesterday that the paintings depicted in the previous blog entry have made it past their first hurdle in leaving home having been accepted into the "Illuminations" exhibit opening February 27th at the Courthouse Galleries in Portsmouth.  I am very happy, and pleased also to see the other nine artists who will be hanging- couldn't ask for better company.  So, now it's time to double down on the framing, but not before I finish the labeling and delivering of works to two other shows:  "Off the Wall", a show and sale at Norfolk Collegiate school to be delivered tomorrow for an opening on Friday, and then a Thursday delivery to Nansemond Suffolk Academy for an opening January 30th.  

   I sketched out seven, and found that the groupings of objects happened without much conscious thought, the assembling of the parts was more intuitive than analytical, much as the the acquisition of the objects had been in the first place.  My first thought was to tie them together via palette, light, and format because I didn't see a lot of formal connections on that first day.  So, I set up a little stand against the studio wall with the cork board because there aren't any windows along that wall, and it was furthest from the windows and skylights in the room, allowing me to control the introduction of light.  Then, I set up the first still life, lit it, and got to work.  Before I was finished, I took a picture of it before taking it apart and setting up the next, and so on, until I completed four.

  

   So I've sketched it in all sorts of permutations, trying to just figure out the logistics- and there sure are some logistics-  and this is what I've finally, after sketching on and off on the subject for years, figured out for the swan.  This little thumbnail is the first painting of it- just a little color study- but I think it took care of itself without much ado.

   Now for the girl.

   Some really gorgeous work to be seen- I marvel at those who can turn it on for a Paint-Out; I must confess that I remain outside of my comfort zone in that venue, and it shows. Still, the experience has done me a world of good, and I really and truly believe that it's important for artists to be seen working.  I'm looking forward to seeing how Out and About will evolve the next go round, as well as to continued participation.

 Next,  Sunday afternoon marked the opening of "Small Works" at Charles H. Taylor Art Center in Hampton.  James Warrick Jones juried this invitational that featured close to 500 works by 177 artists; it's really an eyeful.  There was a great turn out for the opening, and James and his band of helpers did a wonderful job of hanging the myriad of work- no small task given the breadth and depth of these tiny pieces.  It's truly wide open.  I have three pieces in the exhibit, and one, "my inner child(is playing with matches)" took a first in the mixed media category.  That makes me almost as happy as putting the piece together; I was really and truly gleeful while in process.  (Note to self: gleeful process is a clue.)  Another one of my small canvases sold during the opening, so all in all a fine way to end the week, but I am looking forward to a peaceful new week with Megan in the studio.my inner child(is playing with matches...mixed media.

I am girding myself as yet I write.