Shows & Events 
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“Daydreams” has been accepted into the CPSA 19th Annual International Exhibition. This year the exhibition will be hosted at the Charles W. Eisemann Center, 2351 Performance Drive, Richardson, Texas. Show dates are June 29 – July 31, with the artist’s reception on July 16th.
Shows & Events No Comments 
This Saturday I will be giving a workshop for CPSA DC115 titled “Evoking Mood with Neocolors and Colored Pencil”, and I’ve got an area in my studio filled up with all my prep materials. Like laying out pieces prior to a show, it’s always fun to see everything all at once, together. Read more »
Shows & Events 1 Comment 
Last week we attended the CPSA 18th Annual International Exhibition at the Art Museum of Los Gatos, California. This was my fourth acceptance into the annual show, but my first time attending the convention earlier in the week so that I could see the entrant’s slide show and participate in the silent auction. I was really impressed by the quality of all the entries, and it was also very interesting to see the second piece submitted for artists who were accepted (you can submit two, but if accepted, only 1 is chosen). Having not been to the gallery yet at the time of the slide show, it was also fun to try and guess which of the two pieces were accepted, for artists that I knew were in the show. The slide show is presented in the much the same way that the awards are during the banquet; a reader projects the work on a screen, reads the title, artist’s name, and artist’s location. I think it’s great that everyone who submits gets to have their work viewed and recognized.
The Silent Auction pieces are now posted on the CPSA website, and available for perusal. What a great collection of small works – I want them all! This year I’ll actually make the show early enough to participate in the silent auction, so I’ll get a chance to place some bids. Now, the problem is narrowing it down! You can view the pieces here.
Shows & Events 1 Comment April may bring showers, paving the way for May flowers, but it also is crunch time to meet a series of annual art deadlines. These past two weeks have been a flurry of activity. I just finished my CPSA Silent Auction piece, Citrine Dreams, and I’m working on matting it now. Two weeks ago I had giclee proofs printed of Bend and Crescendo, burned a CD, wrote an artist’s statement, and sent it off in the mail to Vera Curnow; this is the 20th anniversary of the Colored Pencil Society of America, and to commemorate, CPSA is creating a book. All signature members were invited to submit two pieces for the book. If all goes well, it will be available during convention week in Santa Clara. Today was the drop off for the Wilkes-Barre Fine Arts Fiesta, an annual local juried art show, and I submitted Opaline Dreams. Coming up on May are two submission deadlines which I took care of this weekend also: The Artist’s Magazine 27th Annual Art Competition (May 3) and the book Strokes of Genius 3: The Best of Drawing, Fresh Perspectives (May 1). Last year I was a finalist in the Artist’s Magazine competition, with Crescendo, and my name appeared in the December issue. This year I submitted Opaline Dreams. For Strokes of Genius, I went all out (did I mention that I really want to get into this book?), and submitted Bend, Crescendo, Cascade, Opaline Dreams, and Wrapped. Wrapped was an unusual choice with that grouping, but it looks a little more like something drawn than painted, so I included it in case my other work is too painting-like for the book’s requirements.
Works in Progress 2 Comments 
On Tuesday night I worked on blocking in the first Prismacolor layers. Always a challenge to get anything done on Tuesdays when Lost is on! It’s starting to take shape. Should get a few more hours in on Wednesday.
News 2 Comments 
I’ve been invited to participate in this year’s CPSA Silent Auction. Two years ago I also participated, and created a work using one of the alternate poses from the larger piece that was accepted that year. In that case the larger piece was Cascade, and the auction piece was Respite. I like the idea of doing a sister piece for the silent auction – hopefully this year Opaline Dreams will be accepted, and my auction piece will be the sister piece.
Shows & Events No Comments I’ve submitted Opaline Dreams as my entry for this year’s CPSA national show, the 18th Annual International Exhibition. I’ll know whether or not it’s been accepted at the end of April.
Musings No Comments Google Analytics is a must if you run a website, since it shows how many people are visiting your site, where from, and how they got there. One of the interesting exercises to do is to check up on how all those link exchanges or forums are doing for driving traffic to your site. For my site, I have listings on Artspan, Top of Blogs, Blog Catalog, Top Pencil Artist, Colored Pencil Central and the CPSA website. I occasionally post to the art forum Scribbletalk, and to Prismacolor’s gallery forum, and also have a link to my website from my Facebook page. So how’s all this stuff doing? Here’s the current breakdown from most referring traffic to least:
News No Comments This past Friday at the CPSA Awards banquet in Atlanta, I received my CPSA Signature status certificate and pin.
Shows & Events 3 Comments 
Kiersten and I spent last Wednesday through Sunday in Seattle, WA for the CPSA 16th Annual International Exhibition. The show was held at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, and the workshops and awards banquet were at the Renaissance Hotel. It was terrific getting to see some of my favorite artists again, and all of the little get togethers – lunch with the Scribbletalk artists, drinks after the banquet in the Visions lounge (with its incredible view of Seattle from the 28th floor) – were tons of fun. During our free time we ventured down (literally – Seattle is very hilly!) to Pike’s Market, with its wild mix of fresh produce, seafood, and flowers, then to the very first Starbucks, onwards to the all glass walled ultra-modern library, and finally to historic Pioneer Square. We even had some family in the area, and got to spend some time talking over a glass of wine and (of course) watching wedding videos.