New Resolutions:  1/5/2011
First Salvos:  1/20/2011
Losing Momentum:  3/1/2011
The Good the Bad & The Disappointments:  3/31/2011
Paying to Play:  4/15/2011
Small Watercolors, Small Steps:  4/18/2011
A Little Art Exhibit:  5/3/2011
Reading the Signs:  5/25/2011
Picking up the Pieces:  6/11/2011
Art that is Personal:  6/29/2011
A Short Break:  8/12/2011
Making Time:  8/26/2011
Art Galleries are they worth it?  10/19/2011.

I just skimmed over everything I wrote from 2011.  Looking back I have to say it was a tough and expensive art year for me.  My festivals were hit and miss, mainly miss.  The exhibitions, contests and shows I applied to were mostly filled with rejections.  I managed to complete twelve original paintings of which seven sold.  I made it into the TWSA National and won a Juror’s Choice award at the McLean County Art Center’s first local watercolor exhibition.  I even found an artist roommate to share the studio space with which has helped on costs.

Towards the tale end of 2011, I started teaching watercolor classes at the McLean County Art Center and also began individual lessons at my art studio.  I have always thrived on learning from other artists and it has been nice to give back and teach others what I know about painting.  It sort of feels like I’ve come full circle in some respects.  I’m still clawing for success and validation with my work but whether that manifests itself now, later or never doesn’t really matter.  It is the journey that is important right?

What will this year bring?  An end to the Mayan calendar for sure!  Other than that, probably more of the same, but maybe there will be a show or two I get into this time, or an exhibition I’ve been hoping for.  Maybe I will be able to paint thirteen paintings this year and post more on this blog without letting almost ninety days go by without a word.

I want to thank those of you who I have interacted with over the last year.  To my seven followers, you have my sincere thanks.  I will always look up to Crystal Cook’s Blog for inspiration, she rocks the blog scene and does a great job of conveying the good artists message.  Dan Vangeli, you’re the man and we are overdue for a phone call.  May your 2012 be even sweeter than 2011 was for you.  Many thanks to two of my mainstay supporters, Mr. Jackson and Mr. Stoeckley.  You both have been great sounding boards for me over the years and I appreciate it.  I also want to shout out to Doug at the MCAC, thanks for doing what you do and looking out for me this last year.  I want to express my gratitude to Natalie and Bekah at The Pod for entertaining my son on his weekly visits and for selling my art!  Last but surely not least, I want to thank my family for putting up with the trials, tribulations and moments of success I’ve experienced and shared since this all started.

Ok, let’s roll.

Regardless I’ll press on from where we left off at the tail end of August,  galleries.  I really don’t have much experience as an artist interacting with the art gallery scene.  Initially I thought galleries to be a waste of commission money, but I have come to learn that a gallery can be worth the money.  Promoting yourself as an artist requires many different hats, all of which require time to wear.  Most painters I know just want to paint and we all wish the rest would just fall into place, but it doesn’t.  To be successful as an artist, you have to be a marketing manager, a publicist, a web designer, blogger, a tax adviser, business manager as well as the crafter.  Good galleries can wear a few of these hats for you.

Galleries and artists have to possess a symbiotic relationship in order for both to be successful.  I  have found such a gallery, The Pod.  It is co-owned by artists Bekah Berry and Natalie Wetzel.   The Pod opened last July during our local fine art festival which I was showing in.  As it was a good show for me, I know the The Pod did very well and business was booming those first two days.  Since then, I have established an art presence there and become friends with Bekah, Natalie and their great families.  I have even learned a bit more about what a good gallery can do for an artist.  Hold that thought, I’ll get back to this in a minute.

If you are an artist, ask yourself this:  How do I get my art out there to sell?  Online? Festivals? Contests and exhibitions?  If you have read my blog enough, you will know that festivals are the most labor intensive and risky.  The costs an artist bears is considerable and the ROI is as unpredictable as the weather.  How much online sales have you garnered assuming your website/presence is even capable of e-commerce?  Art exhibitions can also be expensive and usually require original work only.  You have to give up a piece for the duration of a show.  Often the exhibitions will take a little cut of your proceeds if your piece sells.  You have to pay to apply, pay to ship and you wait.  Sales during these events are uncommon if not rare and the competition is tough, so having expectations to take home some prize money is a foolish notion.

Exhibitions are a great way to get exposure.  Often they are covered in national circulated magazines and can draw the attention of galleries, collectors and customers.  They are also a great way to meet and greet other artists, patrons and society organizers.  Most nationally ranked shows such as the AWS, NWS & the TWSA are located in very busy venues that get lots of traffic.  Some even have traveling exhibitions where the show is displayed in several large cities around the country.

Now back to the gallery.  Some offer a co-op where you pay for wall space or rent and keep 100% of your proceeds if something sells.  Others take a commission and still some do a combination of both.  Over the long haul I find the renter type of gallery to be cost prohibitive and in some sense counterproductive.  Think about it, a gallery that is a wall rental operation only has to worry about getting the rent check.  They don’t have to know you, your art,  or even really value your craftsmanship.  Their first concern is paying their rent from the rent checks they collect from the artists.  There is less motivation to sell and often the more art this type of gallery can cram in, the better.  I like to call it wall sprawl.  You will know it when you see it.   Art starts inches from the floor and will go inches to the ceiling, around corners and in places that are not really idea for display.  Pushing maximum density comes to mind!

Combination galleries who charge wall rent and also take a commission tend to be even more costly to the artist.  Often the rent and commission fees are cheaper but together they often surpass the other two types of galleries.  If your art sits in a rental gallery for too long, you are more or less giving it away or losing money.  This forces artists to either up their prices to compensate or bring in larger expensive pieces that can afford to depreciate over rental time and still make the artist some money on the back end of a sale.  Given the economy, who wants to add yet another monthly expense?

When I first considered galleries as an option, my first thoughts were, “50%…. really?  The hell with that.”  Then I got myself going with festivals, and found that not only was I putting in travel expenses and the time and costs of showing at a festival, it was hard work and often unrewarding.  Rinse and repeat this process and soon, 50% seems more appealing.  I don’t have to setup a tent, sit in blazing heat for 12-20 hours and hope sales are enough to warrant the effort.  There is far less risk in damaging my art in transit and I don’t have to worry about inclement weather, setup and tear down difficulties, hotels and all the other intangibles that spring up during a festival.

Alternatively I can walk my paintings down to The Pod gallery, and have them nicely displayed in a place that has far more foot traffic than my studio at a cost I can afford.  The best thing is, Natalie and Bekah are honest, friendly and very energetic about my work.  It’s an honor to be included in their repertoire of artists and I know they have my best interests in mind.  Their rates are very fair and they are flexible enough to allow me to call the shots on what art I hang there and for how long.  I’d go as far to say that they have bent over backwards to accommodate me.

I’m fortunate to have such a gallery just a block from where I paint.  Not all artists are so lucky.  The important thing to remember is what works well for me may not for you.  You may find the festival circuit far more appealing, or the rental gallery option.  Just be sure you cover all your bases before you risk your original art to the hands of strangers.  The risks need to be shared, and if you feel your being steered into a deal that puts everything on you, then just say no.  There are always greener pastures to find, just keep looking.

The Collector hanging in The Pod Gallery: Uptown Normal IL.

Made in China hanging in The Pod Gallery: Uptown Normal IL.

Sam

Just as much as I would like to sit out after a long day and soak up the evening I don’t.  Our family is very busy.  Our house in a total disarray due to some remodeling, and Jenny and I are blessed with three active kids.  It seems like the choir list and  running never stops.  Perhaps I will miss these days, when the nest is empty and I have only time on my hands.  I miss my art too, much akin to the feeling of being constantly late for something.  I’ve not been in my studio doing any new watercolor painting for almost two months.

The last piece I completed: “Made in China” a 22″ x 32″ watercolor, was the last and largest of a triptych of still life paintings which have done rather well for me.  The first painting: “Firestorm” won the Juror’s choice award at the McLean County Art Center’s first watercolor exhibition back in July.  This painting, along with the sister piece; “Facet“, sold rather quickly.  The last of the trio will go to the Lincoln Art and Balloon Festival tomorrow.

Firestorm

Made in China

Facet

Walking in Circles

For me there has been no way to predict sales, set any type of goals or have any expectations.  Doing so only results in disappointment.  Working at McDonald’s has more stability than trying to sell art in this economy, and even at minimum wage, is more profitable.  This begs the question whether festivals are even worth the time and effort.  What is the alternative?  Galleries? Ebay? Book Covers? If you have any ideas do tell.  I’ve often thought about doing book covers, but how do you get a foot in that door?  I’ve always thought about showing in galleries, and have had some recent offers.  One comes from a downtown San Francisco establishment called the The Galiara and the other; The Pod,  The latter is just down the street from my art studio.  And on that note I’ll see you all on the next post, where I will be discussing my short experiences with The Pod and my hopes for a presence at the Galiara on the west coast.

I will be showing every weekend this month (August) at three fine art festivals around central Illinois. Tomorrow I’ll be at the Washington Fine Art Festival: http://www.washingtonfinearts.org/ The weekend after on the 20th I will be showing at the Champaign Downtown Festival of the Arts: http://www.champaignparkdistrict.com/events/dtfoa/index.html The weekend after I’ll be returning to Lincoln Illinois for the Fine Art and Balloon Festival on the 27th and 28th: http://www.lincolnillinois.com/ABF.aspx

Company is always welcome, so if you’re itching to see some good art I encourage you to make a day trip to one of these shows.

Cheers

People want a narrative, a story or something they can relate to.   That is why music, movies and books are constants in entertainment.  Before there were words, or instruments there were pictures.  The pictures that have a narrative to them as well as fine craftsmanship and uniqueness become timeless.  Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, Michelangelo’s David or his work in The Sistine Chapel are fine examples of a narrative that transcends the artist and becomes something greater.

I’m going to tangent here, but I hope in the end all this will tie together.  I’ve been writing down ideas I get for future paintings.  Right now the list is up to fifteen, and will probably grow.  I’ve found this helps a great deal when I am sitting down debating what to start next.  There is a trend developing in the list and that contains the human element.  If you go back to my previous blog post about Learning from Artist Magazines, I mentioned that the largest chunk of award wining paintings were portraits.  My list has six ideas that incorporate the figure or portrait in some fashion.  The last entry on the list was about this lucid dream I had the other day:

It was a bright summer day and I was lounging in a park near a small stream.  The grass was a lush green and the sun was bright that afternoon.  There were trees and birds and bugs flying about their business.  I think I was with someone but I don’t recall because I never saw them, but I was as I am now.

Ahead maybe a half a blocks distance, just down stream, was a young couple walking with their small boy.   He must have been five or six tops.  The trio glowed in the summer sun and were happy.  As they drew near I recognized them to be my parents but they were young and vibrant and smiling.  It felt so real and I just watched them walking.  The little boy broke out ahead of them towards me, a bit wobbly in his step.  He wore what I thought was a little boy scouts outfit, with the bandana around the neck and a tan shirt but there were no patches or anything.  Khaki shorts and brown sandals hugged his chubby legs and feet and he had the most curious look.  He stepped right up to my feet, and smiled.

I lay there looking at myself as a child.  It was surreal.  I glanced back up to my mom, who could not have been a day older than thirty.  She gave me a short motherly stare; as if she was reading my mind, and smiled, knowing somehow, without a word spoken between us, that little Johnny would remain innocent of the situation.  I smiled and cast my gaze back upon the boy in front of me.  He said to me, “My name is John.. as he smiled revealing a missing front tooth.  I replied, “That’s my name too”.  We talked for a few minutes, and there was a desire for me to tell him some words of wisdom about us, but in the end I could not bring myself to spoil it.  Moments later the trio: my Mom, Dad and me said goodbye and walked away just as they had come.  The scene passed…  I woke up.  I remembered this with such clarity.  It was one of the most unique dreams I’ve ever had, and I really wish I could go back to it.

This will be my first self-portrait attempt in watercolor.  This scene… It’s perfect in every way and I can’t begin to describe the feeling I had inside the dream, and just thinking about it brings a range of emotions and thoughts about my life or what could have been had dreams become reality.

I’m not a portrait painter yet.  I’m a still life painter for the most part.  Just as I desired to do complex still life work when I first started, I quickly realized that I had to learn to walk with watercolor before I could run.  Some subjects were beyond my ability.  I very much want to jump feet first into this self portrait, but I need some time to hone the art of portraits to a level that my still life work presently resides.  Anything less and I will be disappointed.

Ultimately, I want to incorporate more into my still life work and begin to paint people.  I see surrealism around the corner, and by the time I work through my list of fifteen, I think my art will begin to speak to a wider audience.  Maybe one of my paintings, will transcend my time here and speak to future generations in a way my earlier work was unable to do.  Time will tell.

I walked the show a few times and was overwhelmed with quality art everywhere.  There were some amazing glass sculptures, awesome photography, wood crafters, mixed media illustrators and of course traditional painters.  Best of all, Leah Alters was a gracious host and show director.  She was helpful, personal and went out of her way to make sure my needs were met while attending.

During my days exhibiting at the festival, I was particularly impressed with some stand out artists.  I’m not going to plug them too much but I’m going to list them here so that you can also enjoy their work.  First and foremost in the list was my booth neighbor, Daphne Covington  http://www.daphnecovington.com   She does wonderful abstract oil paintings and was a hoot to hang out with all weekend.  I hope we can be booth neighbors again someday.  If it wasn’t for her and Ed, I would have lost a lot of art or worse when the deluge hit Saturday night.  Before I get to the other artists, I want to talk about tent weights.

Good tent weights are like good insurance, you will wish you had them when it’s too late.  Last year I reluctantly spent the money on a set of Happy Feet weights:  http://happifeet.com/  They’re not cheap, but they look great and are by far; hands down, the best tent weights money can buy.  Made by artist Cindy Gordon, for artists, they kept my tent on the ground against some very severe wind gusts somewhere around 50-60 mph.

Also if you are thinking about exhibiting, be sure you’re insured as well.  There were some artists who lost everything at the Columbus show.  Have a backup plan if your willing to risk your heart and souls work on the randomness of weather.

Ok back to the artists I wanted to mention.

            Robert Flowers -  http://www.robertflowersart.com

            Geoffrey Harris – http://geoffreyaaronharris.com

            James Petran – http://www.artsiowacity.org/artist/jpetran/jpetran.htm

            Phillip Nolley – http://phillipnolley.com/

All of them do fantastic work, and I enjoyed talking art shop with each of them.  I plan on beginning my personal collection with work from each of these artists.  I did buy a few small glass pieces from Nolley that I will be incorporating into a few new paintings.  Hopefully him and I can continue to work together to bring his 3D glass into my 2D watercolors.  I hope to get some transparent marbles from him soon.  :-]

Columbus also showed me what superior booth presentations look like.  I saw some very amazing looking setups and you can tell what people have been doing this for a while.  Good festival tents look uniform, neat, and are very inviting to look at.  I’ve picked up a few ideas to continue to improve my setup.  I think every show will be better as far as presentation goes.  Sales continue to be the low points in the shows I attend.  The bad economy isn’t helping anything either.  I have four shows left, maybe a fifth if I get into the Bloomington Indiana festival and that will end the season for me.  I feel like I’m pulling a boat anchor up hill sometimes.

It’s hard to keep doing things when the effort has no payoff.  The next four shows need to put me in the black or I’m going to re-examine and re-prioritize for 2012.  The festival venue may just get shelved.  There is still hope though.  I’ve been contacted by The Galiara in San Francisco http://www.galiara.com/   They are interested in showing my art there, so I’m pretty excited about that.  I have plans to send them a good body of work in the early autumn and keep it there or a rotating stock if they will allow.

More on this later.

Generally speaking, I tend to underrate my art by being over critical of myself.  By doing this I also tend to diminish others perceptions of my art and me.  Taking compliments used to be as difficult as criticism.  “They are just being nice…” I would say to myself.  Hell I do that, everyone does.  For example, when your girlfriend or wife asks you if they look good wearing the jeans she has on.  A wise man will smile and say “Yes”.  Pause even a moment and you have failed.  Overdo it and become a zealous yes man and you have failed again.

Despite the social politeness and courtesies we extend to one another, it has a tendency to fog the lenses a bit, especially when it comes to art.

Lets rewind a little.  2006: I’m 37 and I’m sitting in a evening watercolor class at Heartland Community College.  Nineteen years had passed since I held a paintbrush that wasn’t intended for a wall.  I was the oldest student in the room, I wasn’t sure about much of anything as far as art went.  Was it like riding a bike?  I’d find out in a hurry with another dozen peers to compare to.  Sign number one:  My end of the semester watercolor painting won the best of show at the student art show.  Big deal right?  Not really.  I chalked it up as good luck.  The story goes on… Acceptance into a bachelor’s program three months later, then into a masters program at a fairly prestigious art school twelve months from the day I started at Heartland.  Then comes the first year of art festivals.  Four shows and two originals sold and a best of show to boot.  Yes there were some Dear John’s along the way but considering I was a festival virgin, things went well.

Moving forward to my last blog post two week ago.  I dropped a few names in that post.  It was a huge surprise when I received a thank you email from one of the artists I mentioned.  Small world it seems.  How on earth did he find my blog?  I guess it was the magic of Google.  That means people do read it, and care enough to write – Thanks Dan! –  http://www.danielvangeli.com/

So my blog is sputtering forward, I’ve been juried into more shows this year, as well as a local Watercolor exhibition hosted by the McLean County Arts Center  http://www.mcaart.org/mcac/html/index.html  Commissions are trickling in, and I’m getting some foot traffic at the studio as well as a sale or two.  Which reminds me that I need to be painting instead of typing.

So if you are reading this and are wondering to yourself  how you are doing as an artist take a bit to reflect on where you were a few years ago and where are you today.  What are the signs telling you?  My signs are telling me that my ship has sailed, and made it out of the bay, ahead is a vast ocean waiting.  Hopefully I’ll be heading into calm waters and red skies.

I wanted to share with all of you some observations I put together.  Take from it what you will; it is good information if you are wondering what kind of watercolor artwork is getting recognized nationally.  This is sourced from ‘Watercolor Artist: Feb 2011’ which covered the best paintings of 2010.  Basically it’s a compilation of the top watercolor art societies show winners from across the country.  There were twenty-two paintings listed, so I just started categorizing them by type and size.

The sizes of these paintings varies but the majority; nine, were 22” x 30”.   Seven were larger than this with the largest spanning 40” x 40”.  Six were smaller, again not by much with the smallest at 15” x 30”.  Portraits made up the majority of subjects with six.  Following this were abstracts at four, then images of daily life and landscapes tied with three each.  Trailing behind were two cityscapes and last but not least, a lone still life.  One of the paintings was an abstract portrait, so I counted this in both categories.

What I walked away with is this.  Paint what you want, but go big or go home.  Portraits seem to interest people more than anything because it brings in the human factor and story to a painting.  I honestly liked most of the work, in particular John Salminen’s cityscapes, and Daniel Vangeli’s self portrait.  That year I submitted work to the Missouri and Transparent exhibitions but was turned down.  I met Ken Call up at the Illinois Watercolor Society Members show last fall.  Ken took home top honors at the Louisiana Watercolor exhibition.  Seems to me I’m lurking in the right places and becoming familiar with good artists and show expectations.   I just need to find the right juror who likes what I have to offer.

This year I submitted art to the AWS, TWSA, MoWS, Splash 13 and the Artist Magazine.  I will be sending something to the jury of the NWS and there are a few others I’m eyeing.  From this list I’m showing in the TWSA (Transparent Watercolor Society of America) and hopefully if my luck holds out, I’ll make it into that Artists Magazine exhibition.  The rest turned my work down.  It is progress, albeit slow progress.  If the art festivals I’m in this year all tank , maybe I will redirect some of my energy into other avenues.  Time will tell.

I have a new painting done, three in the works and more news.  Lastly I’ve had some thoughts about expanding into a newer coalition gallery across town.  Stay tuned.

I had about a week to donate a small post card sized painting so I started rummaging through a lot of my old photos.  One sprang to mind; it was a shot I snatched with my phone that was one of those right time right place photos.  This image has been lurking in the back of my mind since, begging to be brought back to life in watercolor.

Normally I like to work larger, but I had already scaled down to a few 7” x 12” sized paintings and I figured a 4” x 6” would not be too different.  To my surprise, painting this was fun!  There are some interesting techniques to painting small and there is a mastery to be achieved even at this scale.  I’d even argue that smaller art demands more attentiveness and precision.  I got the post card done and turned it in on the last day.  Fast forward to the artist reception.

4" x 6" Watercolor

I was a bit nervous, and didn’t know what to expect.  There were some familiar faces in attendance and it didn’t take too long to get into a mingling mood.  There were 100’s of post cards hanging and I recognized a few and liked about a dozen more.  Two hours later I had strolled the exhibit several times, had a few glasses of wine and even got to vote on my favorites.

Fast forward again to the event opening.  Dressed in business casual, I strolled in last Saturday with a bit more confidence and felt an equal as far as the artist factor goes.  Sixteen of the highest voted pieces were picked out to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.  An entry ticket ran $60.00 but it guaranteed you would walk out with an original piece of art.  In addition there was an open bar and a great selection of Hors d’oeuvres.  I had about ten votes on my little painting, which was well above average but not enough to get on the spotlight auction.

About 100 people attended, there was instrumental live music, plenty of wine and food and things got going once the bidding started on any painting that had more than one claim sticker on it.  The bidding was intoxicating and it was very tempting to just run with it in the excitement.  I had my eye on three pieces, so I put my bid number stickers on all three.   Two of the three had other bid stickers on them, which meant I had to out-bid my competitors.  If you were the lone sticker on a piece it was yours for your ticket price or 50.00 if you had subsequent stickers on additional art.

I had stickers on a figurative watercolor depicting a horses head, a photo of a classic car zoomed in tight on the reflections around the passenger mirror and windows and lastly a vivid landscape crafted by a local artist name Jeff Little.  I lost the bidding war on the horse, was unopposed on the car photo and had more competition on the landscape which was last to be bid on as far as my stickers were concerned.  Jeff Little’s painting finally came up.  He’s a great artist  http://www.angelfire.com/art/wiredjeff/ that has been in the craft for a long time.  I am drawn to his work because it is detailed and tight but also displays great color expression and depth.  All his landscapes are well composed, meticulous and very vibrant.

Bidding opened at 60.00 and it jumped very quickly to 100.00.  I opted in around that time and held on till it hit 150.00 before I had to contemplate what the consequences may be for buying art when we didn’t budget for it.  The four glasses of Malbec said to keep bidding, but the “You’re going to get your ass kicked when you get home” told me to put my bid card down and not challenge the 200.00.  Wiser in my old age I had to watch my favorite painting go to another buyer.

The best thing about this was the fact that I met Jeff and got to chat for a spell during the event.  I also met several other people and got to talk to some (yes you Karen!) that I had only been introduced to before.  The Post Card Art show was great, and I’m glad I attended as well as submitted work.  I’ll be back next year for sure, hoping to exceed the $160.00 my picture brought in this year.

Steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

In spite of myself, good things have come my way.  Reflecting on my last blog post, I can see how it could be construed that I’m bitter, jealous and possess expectations that are, perhaps too unrealistic.  “Who does that @*& Madison think he is?” “He ought to be grateful for even getting into any show!” If you know me beyond what you read on this blog, you quite possibly might agree that I am usually a pessimist but I think most would agree I’m not the jealous type, nor bitter or even too unrealistic.  Ok before you rattle off a bunch of things I am or am not, stop reading and think about this for a minute.

Out of all your friends, family, acquaintances, co-workers and people who you see daily how many of them are artists?  Out of that list, how many are artists who earn a living solely by art?  I know a lot of artists, mainly because I am one.  I’ve read about a lot of them, met some, but I only really know two that earn their livelihood on selling art, and I’m not one of them.  If I were to take that risk and leap, quitting my day job, we would be bankrupt.  Somehow two of the people I’d like to consider my mentors, survive in this economy as artists, and live well doing it.

My persistence or perhaps its stubbornness, led me to these artists whom I’ve learned enough from to keep my course of action straight.  Good advice is hard to come by, and often those wise enough to bestow it are often reluctant for obvious reasons.  Sometimes I hear, and don’t listen, just ask my wife!  Anyhow I’ve enjoyed some good advice from a few friends who have been around the art block a lot longer than I have.  I’ve been told to work smaller and loosen up my style some.   The latter will have to wait a while, but I have begun working on small watercolors.  Initially I steered away from them because I felt it was nearly impossible to render the details in that scale.

So I began a 7” x 12” still life. I mainly used a 000 round but there were times I wend bigger.  I masked off the bottle edges before any paint touched the paper.  I soaked the background and put down a mix of Dioxazine Purple with a touch of Ultramarine Blue in a heavy diluted wash.  I dumped a good portion of salt all over the wash and waited overnight.  Next came the rear orange bottle and I worked forward mostly into the blue and finally the highly refracted small perfume bottle.  I put this painting on my hardly-used Strathmore cold press 140lb block and just used blue painters tape to square off the painting.

Watercolor blocks are great way to go portable with your work.  I took this home and painted at the kitchen table a few times.  All in all I’m happy with the piece.  It has a lot of brilliant color and I think I got some nice things going on with the warms and cools as well as the composition.  “Firestorm” is the first of a triplicate pulled from the same photo reference.  I’m starting the other 7” x 12” tonight and will complete the trio with a larger combination piece that will include both flanking paintings.

Meanwhile I am going to crank out a post card piece of art for the ISU gallery.  It’s a fundraiser to help fund art grants at the school.  It will be good to help the program and maybe give some aspiring art students a little nudge forward.  Well see how much detail I can cram in a 4” x 6”.

The next Festival is Columbus.  It’s huge and will dwarf all the other shows I’ve attended combined.  After Columbus, I will return to Lincoln and hopefully Washington IL and get another shot at Sugar Creek which is my hometown show.  After that maybe Champaign, and Bloomington Indiana.  My schedule thins out by August so I don’t expect much after this.  There are a few exhibitions I’m eyeing as well, like the NWS.  I also sent “The Collector” to the Artist Magazines’ 2011 Annual.  More later.