I've heard it said that 'time flies when you're having fun' but actually time flies regardless of what you're doing. That's how I feel since I've started blogging. I'll bet most of you don't even know why I started blogging. It was because of my Art Salon group.
Back in June I went to a meeting in Melbourne, at the Brevard Art Museum. I had heard that artists that wanted to market their work should come to this Art Salon meeting. There was a very large assemblage, I'd say about 100 folks and people sat in small groups, and introduced themselves and briefly described their art.
Being the control freak that I am, I volunteered to facilitate a group, and there were initially 9 people in mine. We met about every two weeks and our agenda was outlined in Alyson B. Stanfield's www.artbizconnection.com and also Alyson's book I'd rather be in the studio, the Artist's No-excuse guide to self-promotion was used as a resource.
These meetings were very enlightening, for me in particular, because up to that point I had been doing artsy things, and wondering why I could never make any money at it. I've done watercolor painting, acrylic painting, beading, felting, stained glass, polymer clay sculpting and drawing. Oh, and my last artsy thing was to buy rings at discount and paint them with enamels, otherwise known as fingernail polish. I actually sold one at an art gallery, Art on 5th, in Indialantic. They are now in the SLOW Gallery, in Downtown Melbourne. I've told alot of my friends that it's a good thing we don't have to live on what I make, because we'd be living under the bridge for sure.
Doing the homework for the Art Salon got me to looking around the Internet at other artists. That's when I came upon a website with all these graphite artists. Graphite is an artsy name for pencils, and seeing some really nice art out there inspired me to get out my pencils and try my hand at it again.
I actually learned how to draw back in 1989, with a local artist, Louise Cherwak, who is now deceased. Louise used the book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards, for her class and she also drew these huge pieces, like 5 or 6 feet tall. This style is known as photo realism, or hyper realism in her case.
I really enjoyed drawing and felt I was quite good at it, so I picked up my pencils and a photo of my granddaughter, Annabelle, and got to work. The finished piece turned out well, by my standards anyway. I showed my Art Salon group and they all liked it too. My other artist group, a social group, which I've been a part of for about 5 years also liked my work, and my friend, Alice, told me I should enter it in a contest, because she thought it was a winner.
To make this long blog shorter, I entered "Earrink" in a juried show, All That Art, held at the King Center last Monday. I also entered 2 other pieces of art as well. When I went to retrieve my art, I found that "Earrink" had been accepted, and will hang in the Harris Room from Nov. 16th to Dec. 6th. An awards ceremony will be held on Nov. 23rd. First place award is $1000, 2nd is $300, and 3rd is $200
So I'm amazed, and excited to see what will happen next. Could my little drawing actually win? I really hope so. But even if it doesn't I'm still happy with what I've drawn. I'm happy with myself that I took the chance to stick my neck out, to take a risk and enter a contest. I'm pleased that I went to all the Art Salon meetings and made new friends there too.
For now I feel like I've met most of the conditions for success, as I've heard it said that "the only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary". P.S. I'm also accepting commissions now, in case any of my readers would like to have a photo of a loved one made into a work of art, just give me a call.
