Every year in May we have a local art fair and competition called the Fine Arts Fiesta, which is a multi day event on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre.  There are bands, performing arts, vendors and food stands, adult and student juried shows, and plenty of people walking around and enjoying it all.  The past few years I've been submitting works for the adult juried show.  You really can't beat it, since the entry fee is only $9 for the first work, and $6 for subsequent, and they jury the works usually the day after they are dropped off (you don't submit slides - they jury the originals).  You can sell your work, or have it NFS.  At the end of the fiesta, you just pick it up - either right off the wall of the art tent (with a member of the art league there to remove it and verify that you're you), or at the drop off location.  There's the usual divisions for medium - painting, photography, etc.  There is not a specific colored pencil division, but instead I'm part of the Graphics category, which includes pencil, pen & ink and other graphics.  Awards include monetary prizes or gift certificates. This year I submitted "Hopes and Dreams", which is the drawing I did of Kiersten when she was 7 months pregnant (our daughter, Emma, is now 11 weeks old!).  I received a call from Gary at the Fine Arts Fiesta to inform me that my entry had won 1st place in it's category, Graphics.  The first place winners of all the categories are then judged, and a best of show is selected.  "Hopes and Dreams" won Best of Show!  The local newspaper, The Times Leader, called me, and did a short interview.  They're writing a piece on the Fine Arts Fiesta that will appear a week before the show, and a picture of my artwork with a quote will probably appear in the article.  This is my third Best of Show award from the Fine Arts Fiesta. The other two were for "Opaline Dreams" and "Bend", and I received 1st place awards for "Daydreams" and "Cascade" in previous years.

The show dates are:

The 57th Annual Fine Arts Fiesta on May 17, 18, 19, 20 2012, Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA. Fiesta Hours: May 17, 18, 19: 10 a.m.-8 p.m., May 20: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.  The awards ceremony is Thursday, May 17th @ 6:30 pm.

For those who are Facebook friends, you've seen a steady stream of Emma pictures; I'll include one of my favorite recent ones for those who aren't on Facebook:

"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. This week I also received notification that "Daydreams" was juried into the 2010 Wilkes-Barre Fine Arts Fiesta, and won first place in its category, Graphics.  The fiesta dates are May 19th - May 22nd.

Today the list of accepted artists for the CPSA 18th Annual International Exhibition was published on the CPSA website, and my submission, Opaline Dreams, made the list.  Woo hoo!  The exhibit runs July 22nd to August 20th at The Art Museum of Los Gatos, California, with the artist's reception on Saturday, July 31st. Also - some more good news from the weekend - Opaline Dreams was juried into the local 2010 Wilkes-Barre Fine Arts Fiesta, and won first place in its category (Graphics), and took Best of Show (the show included categories for Painting, Sculpture, Photography, Graphics, Crafts, and Watercolor).  The Fiesta runs May 20 - 23.

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. Phew!  Just one more project to do now, and it's a very cool one.  Last year I did two shows at Paper Kite Gallery.  One was the Free Art Show, and those who donated pieces were invited to participate in a July 2010 show.  The July show will be a type of tribute show;  one of the gallery owners had inherited many drawings when his mother passed away a few years ago.  Artists participating in the July show were allowed to take one of the drawings and use it as an inspiration or foundation for their piece.  Many of the drawings were charcoal life drawings, and the figurative works appealed to me.  I'm really looking forward to it - it's like a design challenge you would get in art school; here are the parameters, now, to be true to the original concept of the artist while creating a work that is also uniquely my own.

Well, enough writing for now, time to get back to work!

Thursday evening was the awards ceremony for the 2008 Wilkes-Barre Fine Arts Fiesta. Cascade took 1st place in Graphics, and Distraction was awarded an honorable mention.

On Thursday me and Kiersten ventured to the Wilkes-Barre Fine Arts Fiesta for the awards presentation. Bend won 1st Place in Graphics, and Best of Show. It was great to see many of the other members of DC115 won awards as well. We returned Saturday morning to see the rest of the show, and get a few snapshots while it was sunny.

Bend and Lull were accepted into the Adult Juried Show of the 2007 Fine Arts Fiesta, running May 17th - May 20th. Bend won 1st place in Graphics, and Best of Show! There will be an awards reception on Thursday, May 17th at 6:30 pm (at the Fiesta), and a Fiesta "Meet the Artists" event on Friday, May 18th, 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm.

The weather held out, and the sun even snuck out on Friday evening for the 2006 Fine Arts Fiesta held in Public Square, Wilkes-Barre. Blue Nude was accepted into the Adult Juried Show, and I found it displayed with a few other colored pencil pictures, some from group members for CPSA115. My most beautious model, Kiersten, recreated the pose: