The Silent Auction pieces are now posted on the CPSA website, and available for perusal.  What a great collection of small works - I want them all!  This year I'll actually make the show early enough to participate in the silent auction, so I'll get a chance to place some bids.  Now, the problem is narrowing it down!  You can view the pieces here.

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!

I've submitted Opaline Dreams as my entry for this year's CPSA national show, the 18th Annual International Exhibition.  I'll know whether or not it's been accepted at the end of April.

The artist's reception for my show is Friday, January 15th, 6 pm - 8 pm at the Paper Kite Gallery, 443 Main Street, Kingston, PA 18704.   The show includes about 20 pieces and will run through mid February.

Tonight I finished final framing of the pieces to drop off this Sunday for next week's show at Paper Kite Gallery.  I always like laying out all the pieces when they're done and seeing how they look together, especially for the ones that were worked as a series.

I received my copy of the December issue of the Artist's Magazine, which lists the 26th Annual Competition winners.  Although I wasn't a winner, I was a finalist in the Portrait/Figure category, and was listed in the magazine on page 57.

Today I received notification of my acceptance into the International Guild of Realism.  Acceptance is a juried process based on portfolio review.  I'm excited about the exhibition and network opportunties that come along with being a member.

Seriously. This upcoming Friday, August 21st is the artist's reception at Paper Kite Gallery for the "This Year the Art is TWICE as Free Exhibit". As the title suggests, if you like any of the pieces in the show, you can have them for the bargain price of absolutely free. This is a yearly exhibit which Paper Kite Gallery does to give back to the community, and all pieces are donated by artists. I have prints of "Blue Nude" and "Haven" in the show. You can read all about the show at Paper Kite Gallery's website.

This past Friday at the CPSA Awards banquet in Atlanta, I received my CPSA Signature status certificate and pin.

I'm very excited and honored that "Crescendo" has been selected as a finalist in the Portrait/Figure category of The Artist's Magazine 26th Annual Art Competition.  My name will appear in the December issue of the magazine, with the other finalists.

I received notification that with this summer's CPSA 17th Annual International Exhibition in Atlanta, I will receive CPSA Signature Status.  There is an awards banquet on Friday,  July 31st at the Marriott Atlanta Gwinnett Place, where new Signature members are announced.

"Crescendo" was accepted into the Colored Pencil Society of America's 17th Annual International Exhibition.  Show dates are July 9 - August 29, 2009 at Jacqueline C. Hudgens Center for the Arts, Atlanta.

The Colored Pencil Society of America's magazine, "To the Point", included an article on John Smolko's workshop during the Seattle convention. The portrait I completed during John's workshop appeared in the article. Here's the link to the picture, and my blog post after the convention.

Kiersten and I spent last Wednesday through Sunday in Seattle, WA for the CPSA 16th Annual International Exhibition. The show was held at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, and the workshops and awards banquet were at the Renaissance Hotel. It was terrific getting to see some of my favorite artists again, and all of the little get togethers - lunch with the Scribbletalk artists, drinks after the banquet in the Visions lounge (with its incredible view of Seattle from the 28th floor) - were tons of fun. During our free time we ventured down (literally - Seattle is very hilly!) to Pike's Market, with its wild mix of fresh produce, seafood, and flowers, then to the very first Starbucks, onwards to the all glass walled ultra-modern library, and finally to historic Pioneer Square. We even had some family in the area, and got to spend some time talking over a glass of wine and (of course) watching wedding videos. The mood of the show was very different from last year's in Bethesda. The convention center is a very large space, and I found that it spread out the artists quite a bit during the reception. There was a quiet, introspective feel to it because of this. The space looks like it will get quite a bit of traffic from the public, though, so I think there will be more potential for exposure. Below are a few pics from our days in Seattle:

On Friday in Seattle at the CPSA 16th Annual International Exhibition I took John Smolko's workshop. I've always admired his work, and his distinct use of colorful, energetic lines in his pieces. John has been an award winner at the Annual shows multiple years. An experienced art teacher, he led us quickly through the basics of scribbling - a form of crosshatching used to weave together colors - and then into our morning exercise of creating block letters against a glowing background. In the afternoon we were able to choose from a range of subjects - pictures of John's students, still life objects. I chose a student's picture, and decided to keep in the theme of the colorful palette I had used for the morning exercise. With about 2-3 hours of work, the piece isn't completed yet - but I'm really happy with the progress on the piece. I plan on working on it further and finishing it. Here's a pic of the demonstration, and a scan of what I completed during the workshop:

"Cascade" earned an Award for Excellence at the Colored Pencil Society of America's 16th Annual International Exhibition. You can view all of the award winners at the CPSA website.

The CPSA website now has images posted of all of the silent auction pieces.  There are terrific pieces by many great artists.  Check out the webpage here.

Today the accepted artists list was published on the CPSA website, and "Cascade" was accepted into the CPSA 16th Annual International Exhibition. Show dates are July 2 - Sept 29 at the Gallery of the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seattle, WA.

There was a good turnout for this weekend's workshop at the Wyoming Valley Art League, with 16 members attending. We had time to work with white, red, and black Colourfix paper, and I gave everyone dark green and gray samples to take home. The workshop's title was "Capturing Light with Colored Pencil and Sanded Papers". Here's a snapshot of the main exercise, a rose, done on 4" x 6" black Colourfix: