Carpenteria Foothills12"x16"
Oil on Ray Mar Panel
I'm a member of the Artists Guild of the Santa Ynez Valley and we show our work in juried and non-juried shows in the town of Los Olivos at the Gallery Los Olivos. Recently we had a juried show and one of my pieces won the Jurors Award. In the same show I also won 2nd Place for one of my other paintings. I was flabbergasted...(can't believe we still use that word to this day but it fits!). I always wanted to win an award for my pen & ink works but that never happened. I think my pen & ink work was too realistic for an award considering the work that usually wins awards. Sad but true, realism usually takes a back seat to most work that wins awards in my humble opinion. At heart, I'm a pen & ink artist and painting is what I've done to add color in my portfolio....but it is the painting that has garnered the awards and sales on original work you just have to live with that.
I have sold tons of pen & ink prints but the only awards for pen & ink work has come from the Santa Barbara Country Fair and the California State Fair....which was ok but it would have been nice to get an award in a full blown art gallery environment. Pen & ink is very much an overlooked medium which is ironic because it has been around for so long. It is also a medium that takes a lot of skill to pull off well. Pen & ink artists are a special breed of artists who spend hours perfecting their craft and turn out work that is very very special.
Here is the second Place painting.....
Morning Pasture
9"x12"
Oil on Ray Mar Panel
Anyway....just tooting my horn here. I try and keep that to a minimum but I actually have to do it since I'm not paying an Artrep to do it for me. Nothing worse than having to look people in the eye and say "my work is good, I think you should buy it"....
8 comments:
“Carpenteria Foothills” is absolutely beautiful. As is the second place winner “Morning Pasture”!!! Two awards -- You go guy!!!
Your comment regarding realism is very true in my book. I try to be more painterly. Ahhhh one day!
I am glad you decided to add color to your portfolio - you definitely are a good painter.
Checked out your amazing pen and ink work again after reading your remarks in this post. They are great indeed.
I wonder if the level of success in juried shows and with sales also has to do with the subject depicted. Most pen and ink work are boats, where as most oils are landscapes. Do pen and ink landscapes sell, are boats in oil successful?
Hi Leslie,
Thanks for the comments. Color seems to be the accepted thing to most people. It has really increased me sales which are still nowhere near where they need to be but I'm working on that part of art everyday. Thanks.
Hi Bart,
Nice to hear from you. Very good comments too. I don't think it is totally the subject matter as we live along the coast and the boatsis in ink were in a guild show right on the water. It wasn't until I put a painting of the Santa Barbara Foothills that I had a sale in that gallery.
I love boats and marine art but have found out that marine art is not really a big seller. My horse prints have sold way more.
I have sold a few of the ink landscapes too and one of them did win an award in the Santa Barbara County Fair show.
I also can't argue with the price I get for original pen & ink works...they were both as high as any painting I've sold to date. Maybe I just favor P&I more because I know the time it takes to create a good one compared to painting. Seems they would be more worthy of an award but then again I have to remember what I think is killer work isn't always what a judge thinks is killer work.....and you have absolutely no idea how any judge will jury a show....that's one thing I have learned to a tee in showing.
Thanks Bart.
I ventured here somewhat by chance and wow, Ron, that winner is a real beauty! I recognise the other one, remember that cow looking at the viewer :)
You must be very pleased with your progress over the past year or so since you've been painting!
Hi Julianne,
Thanks for taking a look and taking the time to sign my Blog. I thought you were on some global touring schedule squeezing in bouts of painting??? That portrait piece you did was really impressive Julianne...killer work!
I've really neglected my pen & ink work to immerse myself into painting to learn all I can. The cool thing about painting is that it allows me to do scenes that I don't think work with P&I and are better with color. There is still much to learn though. One of these days I'll get up the nerve to do a workshop like you.... Good for you Julianne! I'd probably learn a lot in a workshop....of course there is always that money thing rearing it's ugly head! hahaha.
Ah yes, that's always a factor, hehe...
Yes, that's the nice thing for you - gives you more choice, eh?! Well I signed up for your updates now.. that's a cool idea. I'm definitely a fan of your landscape paintings. :)
Thanks for the kind words. I feel I have such a long way to go! I have a 2 month lull on my, er, 'global tour', then off to France. Hopefully the workshop there will sort me out good and proper - a month of figure painting.
France! Did that in 1978 or 79...geeze, almost 30 years ago. I'll bet it looks the same....just newer cars.
Figure painting should be fun for you. The ones you had on your blog were pretty cool. I'm sure you will learn a lot and come back blasting away over on AA.
Thanks for signing on here. I will get those clouds up soon too.
Have Fun over there Julianne.
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