Palette To Palette At The Art Guild Of Port Washington

This month there was a really fun show at The Art Guild.  The subject was food, so of course this was a show I was interested in.  If there is one thing I have, it's food paintings.  I submitted two and they were both chosen.

Wine And Fruit, 16x20, oil

Fruit In A Spode Bowl, 12x9, oil

There was a very nice reception and awards ceremony and I thought you might like to see some photos of this interesting show.

As you can see, there were lots of fruits and veggies, and why not?  Both have been used by artists for centuries.  Sometimes just for their beauty, other times as symbols for something else (fertility, farming, gods and goddesses, and marriage are just a few examples).

And... I'm very happy to say that my painting, Wine And Fruit, was awarded third place!  This made me so happy for a few reasons.  It's always nice to receive recognition for your work, and you may remember that this particular painting had me tearing my hair out for months.  Getting that wine decanter right took many, many tries.  At the reception, people kept asking me about the lace, figuring that was the hardest part of the painting.  As it turned out, it was one of the easiest!  The lace went in on one afternoons work, I did a few touch ups, and that was it.  The decanter is what took forever.
But I'm so glad I stuck with it.  Sometimes I see people give up on a painting and call it done just because they are sick to death of it.  I absolutely felt this way about the painting a few times, but the stubborn Taurus in me kept going.  I do think you have to be a bit of a perfectionist to be an artist.  Just like in any other endeavor, you have to push through the bad to get to the good.  I recently found out that Winston Churchill (who was also a painter) said "If you are going through hell, keep going".  Not that painting is hell, but you get his meaning.

Thanks to The Art Guild for a great reception and to juror Susan Goetz Zwirn.  Next up at The Art Guild, the 10x10 fundraiser.  I finished my painting yesterday and will give you the play by play in my next post.