“Are we there yet you ask. I
do not know. I am
the poem. I am just
shaking you
gently to remind you.
Of what? Of time? That
this is time? That there is time.”
April has been quite a whirlwind in my world: travel, awards, sales, accolades…. How do you know if this is the pinnacle of your art career? Are we there yet?
In my opinion, Georgia O’Keeffe had a perfect answer:
“I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.”
Still, I think it is important to take stock of our own achievements and make new goals.
I distinctly remember early in my painting career being wowed by seeing the Northwest Watercolor Society show in Seattle at the Howard Mandville Gallery in Kirkland. My dream was to have my work exhibited in a classy environment like that – among some of the best work of my peers. Flash forward about 25 years and I’ve achieved that and so much more!
My biggest event this month has been accepting my Signature Membership from the American Watercolor Society. For a bit of background, artists all over the world can send one digital image each year to the society. A panel of jurors select between 100 & 150 paintings from about 1,000 entries.
Once an artist has been selected for inclusion in 3 shows, they qualify for Signature Membership. This entitles them to vote for future jurors and sign their work with their signature plus the initials AWS.
The Historic Salmagundi Club
Paintings hang both upstairs and downstairs
Receiving my Signature Certificate from AWS President Joel Popadics
At the AWS show with my painting Strange Light
“The finish line is for the ego. The journey is for the soul.”
I attended the AWS exhibition and awards ceremony last weekend at the Salmagundi Club in NYC. It was so exciting to see my work on the wall next to well known artists like Chris Krupinski, Lynne Hardwick, Cathy Hegman and many other ‘sheroes’ and heroes. When I realized my work was one of only 4 abstract pieces in the show, I felt even better about being included!
It was also a great chance to catch up with my friend Ruth Ellen Hoag. We are often together for workshops, so this was a chance to just relax together and bond over our shared love of art. We saw so many amazing works… here are just a few:
Norman Lewis, 1909 – 1979
Lewis was the only Black member of the first generation of Abstract Expressionists.
Marisa Merz 1926 – 2019
Yellow Squares – Teresa Lanceta
DeKooning at Gagosian
Earlier in the month I was in Grants Pass for the Spring Exhibition of the Watercolor Society of Oregon. I was honored and humbled to receive the Best of Show award from juror Jean Pederson. Taking her workshop following the show was a wonderful chance to peek inside her process and glean a bit of painting wisdom. Its one of my favorite ways to learn: immersion!
I will never arrive
Coming home to my studio and settling back into my own work, I realize that I will never ‘arrive.’ I have new goals: a solo show coming up in November, new juried shows to enter, more paintings to create.
“Art is longing. You never arrive, but you keep going in the hope that you will arrive.”
“When you put a seed in the ground, it doesn’t stop growing after eight hours. It keeps going every minute that it’s in the earth. We, too, need to keep growing every moment of every day that we are on this earth.”
