Award Winning Artist

As a student of Nan Henke here in Fredericksburg I qualified for entry into the Fredericksburg Art Guild’s 10th Annual Adult Student Art Contest. All of Nan’s watercolor students and Truby Hardin’s Oil Painting students were eligible to enter.

Judged by Jeannette MacDougall, who is co-owner of Studio Comfort TX and an instructor at the Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, over 30 students exhibited their art. Awards were given for Best in Show, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places as well as the Oil Palette Knife Challenge, Most Promising Watercolor (Blue Winter), and two Best in Show Awards.

All awards went to oil painters with the exception of Most Promising Watercolor, which I was honored to receive.

That being said let me point out that Nan’s classes are pretty much introductory courses to watercolor where some of Truby’s students have been taking lessons from her for 10 plus years. In fact when I mentioned to the judge after the award ceremony that I’d only been painting for a bit over 2 years she was beside herself.

This event, like most things in life, was a great learning experience for me and I thought I’d go into a few of the points I’ve learned.

1. 1. 1. 1. How to prepare the artwork—matting, framing, hanging hardware
         2. How to select the artwork to show—what I like and what others like are two different things
         3. Matting and framing SELL art—I heard a patron remark that the money I spent on matting and framing was worth the price of the piece
         4. Don’t underestimate the value of my art—I should have added a “1” in front of my prices
         5. Don’t mix medias—several of us watercolorists used mixed media (pen & ink with watercolor) instead of strict watercolor
         6. Attend the artists reception—listening to the remarks and meeting patrons and other artists was an eye-opener
         7. Listen to what people are saying about your art—I was surprised at the number of people who told me looking at my Blue Winter made them feel the cold and see the snow
         8. Ask the judge to tell you why they chose your piece for the award—at this point in my “career” I can use all the inputs I can get

One of the things that made my first foray into the art world special was having our best friends attend the artists reception. Hoss and Janet Barker are staying here in Fredericksburg for awhile and having them there supporting me was awesome. I hope all artists could have that kind of support!

So now I guess I can say I’m an award-winning artist and for that I can thank quite a few folks and I hope you’ll go to my Art Resources page and check them out.

I hope to get another post out next Monday with a couple of new things I’m working on. Take care and…go make some art!