When Is the Painting Finished?

Until I started to paint, I didn't think this would be an issue. When you're satisfied that you've painted what you intended, then the painting is finished, right? Not really. From the beginning, I've found myself going back and touching up, fixing areas I wasn't satisfied with. Or adding detail I thought the painting needed. Or changing a shade or adding a tone. At any rate, it seemed that I'd never finish anything. Then I decided to sign the painting. That would finish it. Not really. I found myself going back and changing things after I signed it. I recently heard this is not that unusual. Picasso would not feel at all uneasy to change something on a signed painting even years later, even after he sold it.

There is a time when you wonder if you're finished. I usually wait for a few days, checking the painting out daily to see if it 'needs' something changed. At some point, I just sign it and that's usually the end of it. I've come to grips with the feeling that I won't be happy with each and every painting I do, even after going back day after day and making changes.

At one point early on when I sarted, I decided to take all the paintings I didn't feel comfortable showing to anyone and cut them up into two inch squares. I took these and made a collage which did give me some satisfaction with an image which was more pleasing than any of the ones I cut up.

Entering the Massasoit Arts Festival Juried Competition

I am entering the Massasoit Arts Festival juried competition in the acrylic painting category. I had to send in a CD with three images (1 for $10 entry fee or 3 for $24). There is a pre-judge filter to keep out the riff-raff, I guess. This is all new to me. If I get in, I'll be notified ahead of the May 20th event so that I can bring my framed paintings to the Canton MA campus. The prizes are money. I'm excited just to enter and try. I'm at a point where I feel I'm not at all embarrassed to exhibit my work. I know there are better painters, but the idea of competition feeds the competitive juices in me and helps to fuel the desire to be better. The paintings I entered included: 1) Eye Site (close up human eye); 2) Tracks of Pompeii's Past; and 3) Liz Odd (the iguana painting, not just the one of an eye, but the whole iguana). I'm placing prices of $200 on each.

Milton Museum of Art Annual Juried Competition

Tomorrow I am sending my entry into the above competition. This will be my first juried competition ever. I'm not sure what my expectations should be, although the requirements suggest a little more experience than I have (at least exhibiting experience). I am submitting an Artist Bio, Artist Statement, an Exhibit Resume along with the Submission Form and images of four of my paintings. The entry fee is $30. The First Place winner will have his own exhibition in the Sep/Oct 2012 timeframe. Six Runners Up will be able to participate in one of two joint exhibits; one in Jul/Aug, the other in Nov/Dec timeframe. All of the exhibits will be publicized.

Artist Statement

I am strongly considering entering a juried competition in which I send in images to be judged. The process also calls for an Artist Bio and an Artist Statement. I knew what a Bio is (duh), but truly had not heard about Artist Statements. So, I did a little research and took some notes and fashioned one. Wikipedia, by the way, defines Artist Statement as follows, "An artist's statement (or artist statement) is a brief verbal representation (didactic, descriptive, or reflective in nature) created by the artist about his or her own work.

This will be mine. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am still discovering what I like best to paint. My artwork has been evolving since I began three winters ago. Acrylics on canvas is the usual, although my best work so far is on illustration board. I started with landscapes, but am now venturing into portraits, still lifes, folk art and hard-to-categorize subjects to challenge myself. While I wonder what would be commercially successful, I continue to paint only subjects which interest me. I have come to appreciate, and look forward to, the occasional, but inevitable 'fixes', i.e. the corrections, reformulations of color and shading as a way of learning and further evolving my work. Most of my varied collection of brushes have found a way to be used, and I discovered sponges and toothbrushes to be useful and interesting additions to my tools. I paint almost exclusively from a photograph of the subject, especially since my work is limited to the five or six coldest months of the year. I generally work from the back to the front and make adjustments along the way. The right type of pattern interests me, whether it's a row of houses, a wet stone roadway in Pompeii, a reptile's eye, an iguana, or a bloodshot human eye. Each of these has resulted in some of my best work so far.

Never having taken a painting lesson except what I've seen on YouTube, I have made improvement as my top priority. I am able to see my own progress and that is exciting. 

The Fall River-Taunton Art Associations Joint Exhibit is Coming to an End

I was considering entering the juried competition at the Greater Fall River Art Association (GFRAA) later this month. However, it's themed, i.e. Springtime, and I don't have the paintings I think are worthy for such a theme. I've looked around and I am considering entering another competition. It's local but the entry can be made digitally. They don't want the work itself, just the .jpg file in a specific size and quality. I'll have to make a decision pretty soon.

A Couple New Paintings - Work on Book 3 Moving Along

I've included to the right a couple new paintings, both with trees as the subject.

Also, I picked up the pace a little on Book 3, adding some more tension (and potential tension) between Captain Haskins of the US/UK Titan mission and Captain Aiguo of the Chinese mission. As you probably don't know, Haskins' only daughter married Aiguo when he attended college in the US and left. Haskins has not seen nor heard from his daughter in over ten years. Makes him a little cranky when having to deal with Aiguo whom he blames.