Exhibition entry

Well, it's been an interesting few days, from a logistical point of view, anyway. I finished off the artwork for the exhibition. Loaded it up into the car. I was just returning to the house to pick up the last few bits when I twisted my foot, spraining it. After some frantic phonecalls I was able to get my artwork to the exhibition and have been ferried around by Andrew and various friends to do my stewarding duties. Sadly I'll be missing the best of show presentations at the end. Not that I'm expecting to win, which I won't. Another year with no recognition (sigh -must try harder next year) but I liked most of the winners this year - except one of a tiger, the highly commended was better, in my opinion. (And, no, it wasn't mine!)

This is one of mine titled "1 in 10,000,000+ Reflections on a life lost" Slight technical problems, the acrylic medium hasn't cured properly yet and one of the sheets has move. Apart from that I'm pleased how well it turned out and that the images lined up correctly when viewed from the front!
The image is of my Great Uncle Albert who went missing in action on 8th June 1918. The layers represent
White = spirit and soul
Red = bloodshed
Brown = mud and the dirtiness of war
Black = death both actual death but also death of possibility and potential.
The images show aging at the front, something he will never do.

More rejection!

Andrew went beyond the call of duty today and collected my entry from the Royal Academy and crossed the Thames to take it to the "Not the Summer Exhibition" at the Llwellyn Alexander Gallery. They didn't want it either. Andrew said the work was very traditional, which begs the question why they market the exhibition's patrons as saying "many have commented that this alternative exhibition contains more original and exciting work!" Obviously their definition of original is not mine! Original in my book, as it's used here, indicates different! So I need to find an exhibition which suits the style of art I produce! And if I want to enter the Royal Academy next year do something boring and traditional.

On the up side I've found out I can have my name as a dot com and dot co dot uk domain name!!!!! Whoopee! (Sorry, my life is very limited at the moment, just got the children back at school so I've got to get the excitement where I can.) Just got to wait for the processing to complete and they're mine, all mine (increasingly higher pitched Vincent Price style voice) Mwa ha ha haaaaaaaaaaH!!!!!!!!!! Then I can finally get around to printing up the cards, prints.....

I think I will probably go with this one, although I have about 4 contenders.

Competition

Well, didn't win anything in the competition. There's still "best in show" but, judging by how the other votes went, that's unlikely. All the winners were architectural pictures. I wasn't too impressed with the top 2 winners -intermediate and experienced. That's not to say they were bad. It's not really sour grapes either, although I was disappointed and would have liked to have won. It's just I thought there were plenty more worthy candidates, ones I would have been happy to lose to! Looking around, I think my entry was too challenging for the style of competition. The winners were fairly safe and obvious interpretations of the theme. I know for next time, do something that's a local view of Buckingham and I'll stand a better chance! Anyway, all part of the learning curve -oh no cliche alert! I must look into some other competitions and get my head down to some serious painting...

I'll be back!

Competition entry

My blog posting has gone west over the last few days. I've been focusing on a commission and my competition entry. I thought I'd post the competition entry - photo's not too good, did it in the car with my phone just before I took it to be framed. Forms have been submitted so I just need to collect it from the framers and deliver on 14th November.

I'm not going to able to post for a week but should be back by 2nd November.