I was juried in as a member of the International Guild of Realism (IGOR) three years ago.  Each year IGOR holds a very prestigious exhibition at a gallery or museum somewhere in the United States although the membership is international.  Since joining I have entered the show (you have to be a juried member to enter IGOR shows) each year.......and for the first two years I did not get into the show.  This year I tried once more and I am thrilled to say that I was juried into the show!  My successful entry was "Have You Lost Your Marbles" shown here:

"Have You Lost Your Marbles" is a 9 x 12 oil painting.  I talked about its conception and painting process in my May newsletter here. 

The IGOR show will actually be held locally for me this year at the Tempe Center for the Arts, Tempe, AZ.  The show will be hung from October 5th through November 30th with plenty of special events planned around the opening for both artists and collectors.  As we get closer to the show I will be providing more information about events you may wish to attend.  In the meantime......feel free to smile along with me!!!!  :-)

    The IAPS 2013 Biennial Convention is over......and I had a fabulous time.  I came home to a very busy schedule....but the wonderful memories have continued to percolate in my mind.  I am already thinking about the next convention in 2015 which will also be held in Albuquerque which is so convenient for those of us who live in Arizona.  The convention is an expenditure for participants.....but for those of us it is nothing compared to people who come from Australia, Canada, Japan, England, France, etc.   That is part of what makes IAPS so wonderful....meeting fellow pastelists from all over the world.

    My great experience this year began with having a great roommate, Christine Mikesell-Bidwell.  This is our second "road trip" together and we get along famously!  She is a great artist and a wonderful friend.  Here we are at dinner one evening at the Church Street Cafe in Old Town.

We were actually have dinner with two other friends, Kari Tirrell and Lesli Bonanni....but for some reason I did not end up with their photo.  I am not the best person for taking photos.  Luckily. Christine is a great photographer!  I told you we made great roommates on a trip!

Mentioning Kari brings me to another great thing about IAPS.  I have met many people face to face that I have become friends with through Facebook.   I can't tell you how many times I would look at someone's name tag and realize this person was one of my Facebook friends.

    The two juried shows that were held during the convention were amazing.  The quality of work just seems to get better and better.  Made me even more proud that my painting, "Day's End" was juried into the Master Circle Show.  The picture below shows my painting hanging in the show.

It was also exciting for me to see the artwork that ended up juried into the IAPS 22nd Annual Exhibition.  You will recall that I was one of the jurors of selection.  I chose my top paintings......but had no idea if the other jurors would agree until I saw the show.  I can say that my top choices all made it into the show.  I had fun talking with the other two jurors of selection about the difficulties of judging almost 750 paintings.  I can also say that with one exception the awards went to the paintings I thought should get the awards.   The judge of awards, Fred Somers, did an absolutely wonderful job at the awards ceremony presenting the awards.  For each award he had wonderful comments that were inspiring and often heartwarming.   The reception was packed.  It was wonderful having it housed in the hotel this year instead of at a separate location.  It definitely gave everyone a good opportunity to see the art at their leisure.

    Of course a major reason for attending the convention is the opportunity to attend the many seminars and demonstrations.  As usual I learned something new in every session.  It is always fascinating to see how different artists approach painting.  My notebook is filled with notes that I will be sharing in future blogs as I employ the ideas and strategies in my paintings.  One of the sessions I attended was Robert Carstens who the Arizona Pastel Artists Association is bringing to Arizona in the fall.  After sitting in his session I am very excited about the upcoming workshop in October.

  And of course, there was the Saturday night banquet.  I have heard the keynote speaker, Jason Horejs, a number of times as he lives here in Scottsdale and is the owner of Xanadu Gallery.  However, his presentation held some new ideas and he did a great job.  Certainly a highlight for me was accepting my Master Circle Medal.  I was very honored to be among the wonderfully talented group of artists that achieved this status for 2013.  I had a hard time taking the medal off in the following days.  It is truly beautiful!

On the back my name and the year 2013 are engraved.  I tried taking a picture of the back...but the engraving just did not show up well.  Definitely a highlight of my art career to date!

     Now I am home and back in the everyday of my life.....but these memories will carry me through to the next IAPS.  I can't wait for June, 2015.....I have to get painting!