Blog
I haven't entered an art contest since high school back in the late 70's. My first entry into the Bold Brush Art Contest was going to be in last month's contest (they have a new one every month), but there were too many distractions for me to get it done in time and I was working on several paintings at once which naturally slows down the finishing process an all of them. So I entered my "Rusty Beauty" oil painting in the May contest. This painting began as a plein air painting in the Nevada desert while I was with a group of painters brought there by well know artist Stefan Baumann of PBS fame (Look him up, he has a lot of videos on Youtube). After my trip, I brought this painting back to the studio to put on the finishing touches.
So, was I a little anxious to enter the contest? Honestly, yes! There is a lot of competition there, and as an artist I can't help but be humbled with all of the talent there. Just having something to enter was a major accomplishment. My joy is in that!
This past weekend, I had the joy and privilege of my cousin Renee joining me in my studio to paint. Both of us have painted for years and now that we are older, it seems we have a little more time to indulge ourselves in what we love. For me it is painting and more painting. She left for home yesterday but was visiting me in Fort Worth Texas from Nashville Tennessee. She was roughing in her painting for a plein air painting that she would be doing at a wedding. I am at the detail stage of my horse and canyon painting which was inspired by my visit to Palo Duro Canyon State Park near Amarillo Texas.
I am also working on a large oil painting of Koi in a pond which is about 90% complete and a much smaller plein air oil painting which I started a couple of weeks ago when I was visiting in Fredricksberg Texas.
I will be putting these on my website and will be selling prints of all of them in the near future.
As I am building myself up to become a professional artist, I realize that I need to not only set aside time for painting but I have to let people know about myself and my art through social media as well. To that end, just this morning I created my Facebook Page, on which I will try and post something about my art and what's going on behind the scenes, a little everyday. You can find the page here...https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092754156248. I posted a photo where I was painting plein air in Fredricksburg Texas this last weekend. The VRBO we stayed in had a really wonderful back yard. Always looking for something new and interesting to paint. There was an area of trees and plants in a large flower bed that I found of interest and so I painted that. I will touch it up in my studio and put it on here in the near future. I have a lot of incomplete works that are almost finished and those I will also be posting in the near future.
Regards all!
Bernie
Yesterday was what I consider the official launch of my artist website at rbchristianartist.com. A milestone for me that has been a long time coming. That is to say, I put a piece of art out for sale on my website (which was the first time I've offered anything for sale since 2000), prints from a piece I painted plein aire in Nevada back in March, oil on board 9 x 12, titled "Rusty Beauty". For many years I've produced a few pieces of art here and there, but I was never sufficiently confident that those works were good enough that someone would actually buy any of it. I am my own worst critic. The artist, Mark Carder calls this, "The Artists Curse". I liken this to doing videos. Most people hate the sound of their own voice and don't like the way they look on video. We all have to just get over ourselves and push forward or we will never accomplish anything. We have to at least try to do our best and let the public inform us of what the like and what they want. If we sell something or win an art contest, then we have a clue as to what is possible and are hopefully encouraged to move in a particular direction. Its a start toward a new beginning.
I have sold a painting before in a gallery on the square in Gainesville Texas and made a nice little sum for my effort. I've think I've improved considerably since then. But some artists, myself included, will paint a lot of pieces and set most of them aside (hiding them) because they don't meet their personal standard of what is presentable to the public. This rule still applies to me of course but now that I'm painting more and my confidence has gone up proportionately, I am painting at a level where I believe more of my works are ready to present to the public, via art contests and online sales. Galleries will follow...I hope they do anyway.
In the meantime, I'm still working as a Realtor and listing an selling homes in Fort Worth Texas. I've haven't quit my day job yet.
Till the next blog...take care!
Bernie
