Country House

Country House
"Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter's soul"

Sunday, June 17, 2012

The art show - the artists strutt their stuff

At long last the photos of the art exhibition/show/display are now ready for their debut. As mentioned in the previous blog, the weather conditions were ideal with a bright sun and not a cloud in the sky. Well...maybe a cloud if one can call a poor turnout of people/art lovers. Actually, it's quite surprising given the publicity in the form of flyers distributed in our geographical location and blurbs in the coming events section of the local newspaper. In spite of it all, there definitely could have/should have been more people. This also leads one (me) to question as to whether people are interested in painting and art in general. It also could be timing in that summer is a time for being outdoors (we were waiting, people!) and involved in their own pursuits.I prefer to believe the latter.

In any case, onward and forward to next year's show, if we decide it's a go. One of the ideas brought forth is to open the show to all the local condo artists, and hold it in the park accross the street. It certainly lends itself to an art show.

Meanwhile, enjoy some of the photos. The geographical location is perfect.






Monday, June 11, 2012

The art show that really wasn't

This is becoming an all too familiar whine. Once again as was the case last year, the latest art show did not reach expectations. This time, though, there were no impediments to its success unless a beautiful, sunny, hot, gorgeous summer day could be considered an impediment.

The art show last year, which was an outdoor show, was primarily in the hands of other people and there were a number of factors that contributed to its failure. First and probably the primary reason was the geographical location of the show in that it was located in a suburban community on an unknown, out-of-the-way street, along with the second factor being the total lack of publicty. Rather than dwell on the past, let's hypothesize the reasons for this year's blechy turnout (the word "blechy" says so much).

Initially, the weather forecast called for a rainy day and in retrospect, perhaps it would have been better if this had been the case ("oh Eleanor - you're so negative!"). In the way of numbers, this was the third outdoor condo art show and we viewed the sudden change of weather conditions as an omen that the gods were smiling down on us. In order to maximize the turnout, flyers were sent out to all the condo buildings in the area in addition to press releases in the local newspaper. Lack of publicity obviously was not a reason this time. Add to that a hot sunny day, the only explanation, and one (me) loathes to even think it, is a general lack of interest. I mean, art is not everybody's cup of tea so to speak. The way that I view it is that one is interested in art/art show if a) you're related or a good friend of an artist whose work is on display or b) you're looking for something to hang on your walls. Right or wrong?

For the record, I sold one of my minis, a beautiful blue butterfly, who went home with a lovely friend. So now I'm at the point where I'm taking the summer off to think and give painting a rest. I am, however, contemplating entering my paintings in a group show in an art gallery in the fall. Meanwhile, my focus for the summer is completing a short play in the hope of submitting it in a competition that requires all my attention, so the brushes, canvases are resting in my supply cupboard. I've always professed and told anyone who listens that when it comes to my painting and writing, they are both delicious obsessions to which I can't live without.

If there's anything to be gleaned from this experience, it's no more outdoor art shows. It's a good as excuse as any.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

ART SHOW TODAY IS A GO!

Five days ago, the weather forecast called for a 70% chance of rain on Saturday, the day that the art show was taking place. Upon hearing and reading this, I ranted and raved around the house mumbling (actually considerably louder than mumbling), "typical - so typical of our luck!" This is the polite translation. Being that this is an outdoor show, weather plays an if not "the" most important part. A flurry (I like that word!) of e-mail communication followed between the organizers as to contingency plans for Sunday, which at that point was merely a little more promising.

"Think positive!" I told myself while monitoring the weather. For the next few days, my motto was "think positive - it won't rain. Think positive - it will not rain..."

Sometimes the gods do hear our plea. By the end of the week on Friday, the weather had made a 360 degree change and today the sun is shining bright and the temperature will be in the mid '70's. My paintings have been priced (she wrote optimistically) and my biggest dilemma today is what to wear. Should it be the short-sleeved blouse or the long sleeved jersey... These are important issues!

The by-word today is placement. As is the case and importance with real estate, location...location...location. The focus is to have the best vantage point where visitors will see us and our masterpieces. We live in hope.

Photos to follow - hopefully happy faces.