I am pleased to announce that I am one of five awarded  the Show Favorite for the Brighton Arts Council "Colors of Love" show running currently at 500 South 4th Ave in Brighton In this show rather than awarding a first second and third winners of the show they have the public vote for their 5 show favorite pieces of work one in each of the mediums of the 225 pieces in the show. I am thrilled , honored and humbled to know that the people viewing the show have chosen my painting "Roses and Silver" as one of their favorites.  The show runs through January 3rd, 2020 and I highly recommend you see this great collection of regional and local art in person. It is so much better when it's right in front of you, I promise.

When I first returned to oil painting and started showing my work again, I read from more than one person that in order to be successful an artist should have a niche, something they known for, are good at  and enjoy painting  because people can identify with you by that and are not confused by having too much subject matter. 

I rejected that idea thinking, well, I like to painting anything and everything! Why should I limit myself to one genre or subject matter for creating art just to have better sales?  I do portraits, figures, animals, landscapes, still lifes, florals , even trains. Often what happens is, when I finish a painting I have been working hard at for a while, I really want a change of pace, of thinking, of palette,  size, atmosphere , if you will. I don't want to get tired of what I'm doing.

Lately, however, I have been leaning towards still lifes and florals more and I have found that I actually still have a wide range of 'subjects' within that genre, found objects, treasured favorites, different shapes and sizes and colors of things, different flowers, especially when seasons change.   I like fresh , possibly home grown blooms, different settings, lighting and backgrounds.

I will still paint other things, animals are great inspiration for me as I live near the country and not far from three wildlife sanctuaries. I also love landscapes, I mean, I do live in Colorado! and the occasional en plein air experience. Clouds are fascinating and make great studies  and paintings on their own too.

So, are still life and florals my niche? I'm not sure, but I enjoy challenging myself with new ideas for them even though sometimes I get that " How the heck am I going to pull THIS off "  feeling when I set up something more complicated in pattern and subject matter than I had realized.   That is the fun part, pushing myself to figure it out and, hopefully, succeeding.  You may be seeing more of them in the near future but, don't be surprised if another horse or dog makes it's way into my gallery

To niche, or not to niche?  Opinions?

I am honored to learn I have been chosen by the Judges as the Daily Paintworks "Judges Pick" for the month of June for my Painting "Old Glory" I will have a spot in the top row of the new paintings on the website for the next month so I'd better get crackin'!            

   

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Sometimes, the biggest struggle for an artist, is not HOW to paint, or draw or sculpt,  it's when.  

There are many like me who have been creating art, painting in my case, since they can remember. My favorite gifts as a child were art supplies and yes, even paint by numbers sets. How I loved getting the new printed out drawing and the little containers of paints and back then they were real oil paints. I fell in love. I loved everything about them, the smell, the feel of them as I brushed them on the panels, the look of my 'real oil painting' when I was done.  Seeing how they/I used blue and purple in the shadows on darks and lights to show shape and form. I was hooked.

I tried all types of painting and drawing; acrylics, pastels, pencils, colored pencils, but in the end, it was always oil painting. I didn't have a genre of painting and appreciated all forms which changed as I grew and learned. I went to art camps, private lessons and high school art classes which eventually led to studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. My parents were teachers and thought I should go to SUNY New Paltz so I could do my art and also get a teaching degree, you know, as a back-up plan. Nope, not for me, all I wanted to do is paint and I was sure it would work out...somehow. 

I graduated with a 4 year certificate in Fine Arts Painting and then spent another year working there in open studio sessions to keep painting. I had everything figured out except the business side of being an artist. Shortly thereafter I moved to Colorado with my fiance' and continued to paint on my own by driving into the Rocky Mtn areas to paint and explore and painting at home in my studio/spare bedroom. I managed to be in contact with some local art guilds and showed a few pieces but not much else. Marriage, life ,and family went on and we had bills to pay and my painting production slowed down, sometimes way down . I still loved everything about it, but never had much time for it.  I never officially quit, it was always 'someday'.

So, someday showed up last year. It presented itself to me in sort of a "If not now, when?" kind of way. I believe everyone in life has their own path to take and their own timeline to follow. You can never live your life, or follow your passions, the same way, at the same pace as someone else does. It doesn't work.   So, I started gearing up for my Re-emergence by going through my paint supplies and seeing what I could still use. I carved studio space out of part of our home and set about outfitting it with carts and racks and things I would need to paint and store new works and supplies. I built a large rolling painting rack out of pallets I begged for on Nextdoor for free and scoured the ads for rolling carts to hold palettes and supplies. I bought panels when I realized I no longer liked working on the stretched canvasses I made myself and then learned how to make my own panels to cut the cost by 2/3rds.  I found great art supply sellers online and stocked up. I was ready.

I didn't have to re-learn how to paint but I did have to figure out what I wanted to paint. It turns out I pretty much like painting anything, as long as it is something I really WANT to paint. If I don't get excited about it, it's tedious,  I like variety. When I finish a still life I want to do something else next, a landscape, a portrait, anything different. I am not painting for anyone else but me. Now for the nagging part, the business part, the part of me that says, wouldn't it be nice to sell some work to at least pay for all these tubes of paint and brushes?

So, this is where I am now. I've started entering shows again, I now have this lovely website and have started selling some work.  Every artist I know wants success and recognition, who doesn't?  but, I more importantly want to be a better artist, to keep working at it, to make myself see what is really there, not what I know is there. To keep it fresh and exciting and most of all fun.

I am not on anyone else's path, or time-line, I'm on my own. And, I'm in it for the long haul.