Thrills and Chills

Aside from making books, painting faces still occupies most of my studio time. I've expanded my repertoire to include even more layers of paints, sprays, ink, tons of paper; I've done 3-dimensional on cradled canvas, canvas boxes and experimented with a few new texturing techniques. Molding paste, fabric, found objects and other stuff, the possibilities are endless.

Early in June, I entered these two gals in More & More, a competition defining mixed media, juried by the Senior Curator at the Huntington Museum of Art. The 200 entries from across the country were narrowed to the 38 selected for the exhibit. I was blown away when I got the email saying that both faces (9x12) were among those chosen.  

 I had an opportunity to chat with the judge during the artist's reception and I (bravely? naively?) asked her why she chose mine. She liked the pieces visually and was impressed by the lengthy materials list. And that's not the real kicker! When my husband went to Mary Rezny's Gallery to pick up my art Monday, he came home with one (below) because the other had been sold. To a guy who owns Cross Gate Gallery here in Lexington. If you have a minute, check his place out and you'll see why I'm so surprised... (and thrilled, of course).

A cautionary note:  When using re-inkers in the background of a painting we all know that some of the color will surface; the oregano really came through on this one and that's why she's adorned with so many leaves. What I didn't realize is that putting on a coat of varnish, weeks later, will cause more color to surface. If you look closely around her chin, that hint of purple/red came blazing to the foreground like she'd been in a pie-eating contest. I didn't see it until the night of the reception and I was mortified. Gotta love those 'happy' accidents.