1st place in oils @ SKB Art Conference 2012

Things have a way of evening out, sometimes. I ruined a nice plein air painting today due to not having a friend stop me soon enough. So I now have a beautifully toned canvas for tomorrow. I was a little bummed after wiping it out but the beauty of the golden-glowing aspens and being surrounded by fabulous people, it didn't last very long.

I was kind to myself and knew that at least I had showed up to do the work and we can't have successes without some failures; checks and balances, you know.

Tonight was the awards ceremony for the art show and much to my surprise and delight, my painting titled "Revealing my inner self" was awarded 1st place in oils! ( by unanimous decision, one judge said)

What an honor! There are so many talented and wonderful artists here that I feel humbled just to be with them for an entire week.

So my motto, "Never give up", proves to be valid once again. Just when we are down on our abilities, validation can come in many forms. So for all my creative friends who are struggling right now with
this same issue, may this spur you on.

Many other wonderful things are in store the rest of the week; art marketing, Photoshop class, more plein air and hopefully some time with artists, Mark Mahaffey and Greg Beechum.

Guy Coombs and Andrew Denman are doing some fabulous pieces and is inspirational to watch.

Stay tuned for news of some other great artists doing instruction and demos here. Thursday, many of them will be doing a quick draw.