Juried In!

"Nipomo Skies"

12"x24" Oil on Canvas

Just got the news today that one of my paintings, "Nipomo Skies", was juried into the Central Coast National Fine Art Competition...this is my 2nd National show acceptance. Too cool !!! I have said it a hundred times, you never know how a judge chooses what they do in Juried shows. This judge continues the tradition. The other painting I entered was what I was thinking would get in if any got in but it was my second choice that made it into the show.

I made it into last years show with my pen & ink stippled drawing of a Coast Guard cutter. Didn't win any awards with it but it was nice just getting into the show...especially with a pen & ink drawing at the National level! They had some great paintings in last years show. Artists Richard Green, Ed Terpening, Marilyn Lucia-Bowsfield and Ann Brown were just a few whose names I can remember. Just getting into a Juried National show is a big thing for me. Winning anything is something I don't dwell on at this stage in my painting....if you had seen last years show and the quality of the work you'd understand.

Anyway, here is the post card for the show. They are having a Champagne Preview Gala the night before the Artist Reception for buyers who want an early crack at it. I've decided to keep my price to my normal price ( $600.00) instead of raising it for the show and their commission. I did this at the last Juried Show I was in at San Luis Obispos' Art Center and that piece sold on opening night. This is a really low price for this show so we will see what happens.

If you are going to be in Morro Bay, CA on the 10th or 11th of August come on by....

Building a Show Easel

These are very cool easels with zip setup time. They cost a bit so I decided to just build one. I have seen them so all I did was just roughly sketch it out and guess at the angle. I purchased 1"x4" oak at Home Depot for $30.00, 2 brass hinges, 4 Shaker pegs to hold 2 paintings and 4 padded feet. I also bought some dowels for the corner of the wood strips and some gel epoxy glue with 1000lb pull strength.

I tapered all the wood strips on a table saw, drilled the holes for the dowels and then mixed the epoxy gluing the two halves together. I let them dry overnight and then sanded a radius on all the edges which gives it a nice rounded edge to grab when carrying. I drilled holes for the pegs, the feet pads and then screwed in the hinges. When all of that was done I rubbed it with a wax/sealer which brings out the beauty of the oak.

It will hold two paintings, looks cool and is easy to setup...and cost very little. It's a great indoor easel and will look good in my house too.

2 pcs cut at 5"6 and one pc for the floor strips.

The wood is tapered and then ready for the dowels and epoxy.

I used a rubber "stop" to set how far down I drilled the holes for the dowels. I used these metal pcs with points in the drilled holes, put the two pcs together and it marks where I need to drill on the other piece of wood. Drill all holes, fill with epoxy insert dowels and put them together.

After sanding, this is what the corners will look like...note the footpads installed.

Here it is all oiled up ready for the art. You can see the Shaker pegs for holding the framed artwork. The two brass hinges go at the very top and at the very bottom in back. A very simple easel to build.

Here it is in the house with 2 paintings. The wood looks great with a natural oak finish protected with the oil rubbed into it. The feet are screwed in and allow for adjusting to uneven surfaces. Right now, the Shaker pegs can be pulled out to very the positions of paintings but I might just go ahead and glue them in place. I know a lady who mentioned she had lost a peg because they kept popping out. We'll see.

Garden Tour

We had a pretty good show, slow day but a good show. I say good because we had no wind, no troubles and all of the artists had great setups and very good art. Also, Jean, whose house I was invited to show at, had an awesome yard to show art and she and her son and hubby went all out to give us a cool place to setup. First Rate! And, most importantly, we all had a fun time that day doing out thing with lots of laughs.

I'm learning that selling art at a fair type of event means you are not going to sell large expensive pieces as much as you are going to sell small items under $100.00 such as mini pieces, notecards, matted prints (not framed) etc....In the desire to not lug a ton of stuff to this show I stupidly didn't take enough prints of various subjects and I have no small prints of my paintings at all yet...will I ever learn!? I sold 2 prints for the entire day but had lots of fun with my fellow artists. Some shows are like that but I did learn about what I need to add to my display at small art shows. I'm going to get better at this if it kills me! hahahaha.

Here are some photos of the day....

My setup....My umbrella went up when the sun came out....hint, keep your shrink-wrapped art out of the sun or it will sweat ruining your prints. I always cover mine in shade no matter what!Jean's setup....this girl was out to make money!

Syd's setup...customers already lined up blocking my shot. Another artist ready for raking in the cash! I waited to get a clear shot of the backyard littered with ART....what great setups and killer work all around....Lots O' Art.Jean's yard is so tropical looking and she has great grass. I live on a hillside and have Native grass which means once summer rolls around we have brown grass!

Check out Syd's easel on the right hand side...her hubby made these out of garden lattice bought at Home Depot, super light to carry and worked great. Note the excellent setup of smaller items under $100...an artist on the ball! How proudly she stands! I was working with art sale veterans that day!

Here is what my view of Jean's area looked like most of the day...customers customers customers. She did really well and it goes to show that planning pays off. Jean is totally a veteran of selling art and knows what the heck she is doing....how do I know this?, because I had to help her pack some of her sold paintings! I'm doing another show thatJean is in charge of later this month so I'm going to gear up with things I've learned here and hope for a better day.

Small Works Painting

I'm going to be participating in a Garden Tour show. These are shows that Guilds have where artists show some of their works in the backyards of various artists homes. Usually there are about 3-6 artists at each of the homes. The guild sells a program that includes a map to each home and you have the have the program to get in. Each program allows 2 guests to enter to see or buy the works of the artists. It's a nice way to meet potential customers and in general have a good time joking about the lengths you'll go to sell your work! hahaha. If you don't have one of these in your area get one started...they are actually pretty fun.

This is one of the small paintings I did a few weeks ago...took less than an hour to do. I want to show some normal sized works and felt like doing some smaller works...much easier to carry to the show. I was in a framers shop and he wanted me to buy some small 5X5 frames he had laying around but I didn't have any 5X5 canvases...so, Gary the framer just happened to have a boatload of them so if I bought the small frames he'd give me the canvases for each one....not a bad deal eh? I picked up a couple and this was the first one painted.

I quickly cropped a reference photo into a square image a this is what happened. Here it is in the small frame for it....

Shell Beach Rocks

I did this one recently in order to get better at painting rocks along the California coast. I don't do many scenes with rocks in them so this was a good project for me. I wish I had a smaller knife to use in this one...the 2 that I have are really large and the really small one I had at one time is lost to history. I'll have to pick one up before doing another rock scene.

Anyway, this is the result of the rock project.

"Shell Beach Rocks"

12"x24" Oil on Canvas