I was tickled to learn this morning that "Gumball Fiesta" was juried into the International Guild of Realism's Winter Salon!  A bonus for me is that this show will be held in Marshall Gallery here in Scottsdale.  IGOR always schedules a couple of days of organized events for attending artists coming up to the show opening which I always look forward to attending.  The show opens January 26th and runs through February 18th. 

I was more than pleased to receive an e-mail this morning notifying me that two of my paintings, "Pool Shots" (available at Park Gallery, Carmel, CA) and "Stripes and Solids",  were juried into the ArtCompetition.net Still Life Exhibition.   Art-Competition.net is an international fine art on-line juried competition that is open to all visual artists, novice to professional artist, 18 years of age or older.  This is the first time I entered an ArtCompetition.net competition and was tickled to be one of the 20 artists whose work was selected.   The website prospectus for this competition indicated that "for this group exhibition the curators will be looking for still life artworks that convey a captured moment in time. The still life works can be traditional or contemporary in nature, with the content exhibiting everyday objects which are natural (e.g., food, flowers, game) or which are manufactured (e.g., bottles, glasses, pottery). The subjects of the art can range from a single object to a complex arrangement of objects expressed from representational to abstract. The still life art genre may appear simplistic; however, it frequently reveals a subtle insight into various cultures that are uniquely different from our own. Still life works reflect a deeply personal view into the artist's daily life. Selections for this exhibit will be based on originality, quality of execution, and the communication of the subject."    The show will open online on November 30th........I hope you will mark your calendar and check it out. 

Fresh off the easel......introducing "Gumball Fiesta" ,  a 16" x 20" oil painting on panel.  I am not sure if one would say I am stuck or in the midst of exploring a series....maybe a little of both.  However, I found myself once again working with my black and white striped surface, glass surfaces, bold colors and lots of reflections.   As with recent paintings I used gumballs because of their vivid colors and a surface just shiny enough to pick up reflections.  New challenges for me in this particular painting were the hanging ribbons with their shadows on the background and the red and white striped ribbon with the very thin stripes as it weaves through the setup.    But I must say....the cut glass base of the middle glass was definitely the biggest challenge!  The base was a mass of snippets of reflections of both the gumballs within the glass and the gumballs, ribbons and striped surface.  The undulating shapes of the glass from the base to the top created very interesting distortions of the gumballs seen within.  This was definitely a case of painting what you actually see, shapes, lines and colors....not what your brain is telling you it is.    Ah.....I love these challenges!