Studio Notes and Reflections

November 6, 2021 found me at the Tiemann Art Gallery in my home town of Round Rock, Texas.  The Central Texas Pastel Society was holding their Fall 2021 Annual Exhibition and Competition.  The Reception was a packed house buzzing with excitement.  When the hour came to announce the awards they said that they would work from the 'bottom up.'  Made sense to me.  My name was the first one announced for a Merit Award for Landscape given to my work, Sentries to the Sunset.   

I thought, that was mighty nice.  I've always had a place in my heart for that painting, and I remember well the late afternoon out on the Perez Ranch when I took reference photos of that clump of cactus.  It had been spring, and the fields were almost knee deep in bluebonnets.

It was pretty crowded, and after standing a while I moved to the back of the room to look for a chair as the other awards were announced.   My son was with me.  It was the first time he had made the long drive from south Austin to support me at an art reception.  They were calling out the final winner, but I had not worn my hearing aids as I thought that the mask I had put on might knock them off my ears.  My son leaned over and said, 'its you, you've won! Go to the front, go to the front!  

I admit, I was a little confused.  I did not think one could win two prizes at a show, but I went up front and the judge began talking to me.  I admit, I do not remember what she said.  I was genuinely stunned.  And I don't think it has yet to really sink in.   But my painting, Water Garden Romance had won Best of Show.  

I had not expected it.  Painting it had been an exercise in composition as I had to vary, significantly from the reference photo to conjure up a serpentine path through the lily pads.  I had intensified the colors to match my memory of the light and the color, I had made it expressionistic, and I had changed my mind at least four times about the one lily blossom in the composition.  It was a complicated image, but one that was satisfying to execute.  

As it turned out, Water Garden Romance received a Buyer's Award, and it has gone on to a new home.  As one friend of mine at the show later told me, I had had a 'grand slam.'    I'm still digesting all this.  Something I've learned, persevere.