GETTING YOUR NAME OUT THERE

I have been searching the net for the artists in the AWS travelling show whose work was so interesting and appealing to me. To me, they were new names. Imagine my surprise when I find that many of them have been painting and showing in major shows for years!! Where have I been and why don't I remember their names and work?

A painting that was one of my favorite's (I had no decent photo due to the reflected lights) can be found at the artist's site here:

http://www.kathleenconover.com/originalartwork.html

Scroll down to Sentry II (she changed the name of the piece and it was a bit darker than it's showing here but you still get the sense of the painting. Now I don't love it just because it has a big black crow in it...but because of the composition and the rich colors - not all greys and blacks.

And Mr. Preecha Promprabtuk has been showing his work and winning awards in the Transparent Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society (he is shown at the NWS on Donna Zagotta's blog), and the American Watercolor Society as well as the Oregon Watercolor Society. And I'd probably seen his work - perhaps online or in a magazine - but his name didn't stick until I saw the piece he had in the travelling show. So...another reason to get out there and see art for yourself: you may discover someone who knocks your socks off that you've never really let into your world before.

If you want to see more of another favorite, Pat Holscher, just go here:(http://www.holscherstudio.com/galleryindex2.htm
and view her wonderful whimsical animals painted with drizzles and splashes and color color color!! I think she may become a new favorite :) She gets that drizzly look by painting watercolor on gessoed paper and using a lot of the good old spray bottle (one of my favorite tools).

So, these names may have been fairly new to me, but they've been paying their dues and have been out there for years. So I owe them all an apology for treating them as "newcomers" to the scene just because I didn't know them. I know them now!!

And here is something for you to ponder. This painting, titled Far and Away, received the Bronze Medal/$2500 prize in the AWS show.

I won't tell the artist's name...you'll have to search it out yourself at the AWS site. However, the response of the three of us visiting the show was the same: "That's a painting by T-- N------." (We were all wrong.)

Who do you think painted this painting...and what made you think that?

(T-- N------ had a painting in the show and didn't win an award for the painting - which was a very beautiful and light-filled painting of a nude woman.)

I think we've all been in workshops where an instructor tells the class, "I can teach you my technique but you won't be able to paint exactly like me." I think this one proved that saying wrong.

What do you think? Do you get your name out there by consistently developing your style and then teaching it to others through workshops and DVDs and magazine articles? Or do you get your name out there by winning a top award in a major show?

I have no clue how the paintings are chosen, but apparently a committee of 6 jurors chooses who gets in the show - and every one of those on that committee got in the show. (Is that wrong or okay?) A separate committee of 3 jurors chooses who gets the awards. Each one of them also got in the show - two in the travelling show - but they didn't give themselves awards. I think that is correct, according to the information I could glean.

So, which shows have you entered? Have you tried to get into your state show - or a national show? Have you succeeded? Are you entering online shows more so you don't have the expense of shipping your work if you get in? I think I make most of my art contacts and learn about artists and what they are doing through the online community. Following an artist's work online is easy for me to do and then when I see their name somewhere else (an art magazine article or a show), I recognize them and know their work.