Thursday, July 27, 2006

Mom (my art patroness) Strikes Again!


Hello, Mr. Postman! A package of rainbow LOVE arrived today from my mom, via MisterArt.com - another 20 Prismacolor markers! Yahoo! My cup runneth over! Lots of lovely yellows and oranges and pinks and reds! Thanks, Mom! Now I have 78 markers and lots of drawing to do.
Oh yes, I wanted to mention that last weekend I was very brave, and brought my drawings to our local artists' network meeting for a critique. EEK! Haven't done THAT in 20 years or so. I just joined the group 2 months ago after going to their spring show. There are probably 60 people at each meeting (I missed June's due to the big cake), 90% women, from their 20s to 80s! After discussing the upcoming summer show, the 10 of us that brought work set it up and the others divided up for 15 minute critiques, and then shifted to the next artist. So actually, I got 3 small group discussions. The main suggestions/comments I got were:
- Where is your BIG art? (I was showing out of my sketchbook, since I haven't done anything big yet)
- You should try painting if you want to sell. (since marker is not so light-stable)
- You could seriously go for the children's illustration market. (that made me feel GOOD)
- I just want to sit down and look through the WHOLE sketchbook! (very thrilling, again)
So, all in all, it was very positive and encouraging. I decided not to try and rush and create something to put in the August show, but I did sign up for 2 shifts working as an "Artist in Action" - which means that another artist and I will sit under a canopy outside the gallery, hang samples up, and demonstrate our work during show hours. Hey, 4 hours of drawing, sounds good to me!

5 comments:

spiff said...

i want to sit down and look through your sketchbook too! i love looking through all my friends' sketchbooks.

do you have flickr account of your art?

Ali said...

Amazing - well done you for getting your stuff out there.

Love the idea of an artist in action! You will let us know how it goes won't you?

murphy girl said...

congrats! and have fun doing the artist in action, great time to use your spiffy new colors! enjoy!

Amy Zaleski said...

Congrats! All sounds good. I was a part of a small artists' group when I lived in Delaware and found it so enriching. Most were women, and most were over 60. It was so interesting to meet artists who worked in a variety of media and styles. And the fact that they were older and wiser meant a lot when it came to opinion time.

On the art supply note, it always feels like Christmas morning to me when I get new art supplies! Have fun with those markers!

AND...lastly, THANK YOU for suggesting a good word for this week's Illustration Friday topic. I'm glad they picked it. It seems like months since there has been a word that is really open to LOTS of different meanings. So, that said....hope I can come up with something good. I guess the pressure is on when your topic is actually picked...you have no choice but to submit something! :-)

Anastasia said...

yeahhh more Markers!! what a thoughtful mum u have -
I think your artwork is so suited to children's books!!
How do u find out about critique groups??