This hasn’t happened in a long time:

Good afternoon,

We want to thank you for submitting your work to the upcoming “New Beginnings” at the Art Center Gallery. 

The judge made her final choices after two days of deliberation over the 70+ entries.  We are sorry to let you know that your work was not chosen for this exhibition…but, don’t be discouraged we have several other opportunities coming up in 2024.

I wonder if non-artists realize that we suffer the slings and arrows of rejection. This one is a little rough, because I entered THREE pieces. Not the judges cup of tea? Not deemed in alignment with the “Theme”? Just not going to work with the rest of those selected? Ah well. They will get into another show someday, I hope.

If an artist is lucky enough to have attended college, then they learn how to take it early on in their career. Students undergo regular critiques and competition. Once you start entering shows you have to grow thicker skinned. Rejection comes and goes. You may not win a prize for years (and often won’t even agree with the Judges choices – the same goes for the jurying process. You gotta just let it roll off your back. BUT then you have to re-access your pieces and work harder and smarter next time.

Today was a bit of a rough one and yet it was also exciting and fun. Is that unique to artists or do other professionals experience this? My “studio assistant” didn’t show up today to stop me from going overboard. I had to knock a few things back or cover them up along the way. I’m happy with the result. We will see if it gets accepted to the show I made it for….

Please please please enlarge this on your screen to see the details of my mark making. I have to thank my fellow artist Princess Rashid for teaching me the joy of mark making. It’s something some artists find scary and I think I did at first. It’s a powerful feeling though to embrace it. I think I’d have to write a whole essay to explain what the difference between mark making and painting is. Perhaps this is enough of a visual explanation. My Studio Assistant showed up today – Maybe just in time – to tell me I needed to stop soon (and pet her). I don’t think I over worked it yet. Why she couldn’t sit on the pillow in the chair to tell me that I don’t know. She must have wanted to emphasize it. Thank you assistant! See below for some of my plan for tomorrow. You’ll also see some of the bonus material from today.

Sometimes when printmaking you have too much ink on either your stamp or found object. If you don’t knock some of that ink off you will end up with a squishy mess. Keeping a piece of paper or some deli paper at hand you can lightly stamp or press some of that extra off. You’ve just performed magic! Presto! You have some collage paper. If you don’t think before you plop your paint or ink on your plate for rolling, you might also have a ton of left over paint. Don’t fret. Just perform some more magic by using that to start another piece.

I’m preparing to do some printing with found objects on the piece I shared yesterday. This is a danger ⚠️ zone! It’s so easy to go overboard. In this particular case I am keeping in mind the feeling I want in the piece. Luckily exuberance and excitement factor in.

Actually after the portrait, this feels like play. That won’t last though. Composition is the key to abstracts so I will have to slow down and think more. Maybe not in the next phase, but definitely every move after that. It’s going to be Fun too! Artists are so lucky.