Getting Exposure

This is a  busy time! This month I'm starting to work on getting mire exposure for my work.  I'll be

donating some works to charity auctions and entering some juried shows.  I've already entered four pieces to a juried show in Columbia where they're having a black tie gala.  One of them is shown on the right, titled "Helena" it's oil on a wood panel and another is "Hope and Cynthia" or "Hope and Cynicism", pictured on the left.This one is oil on cradled wood.
  I also entered another figurative painting pictured in the last post which is called "Introspection" and is also oil on cradled wood and the fourth is a spring landscape of the foothills of the Blue Ridge painted on canvas, .
In addition  I'm donating an encaustic piece to benefit Safe Harbor, Goodwill, and The Family Effect during the silent auction at the Fluor Golf Tournament and gala in May  .  http://golfforgreenville.org/tournament/
I'm also excited that in March Greer and the Anderson Art Center will hold their juried shows. Anderson's is huge  with $25,000 in prizes since it's the 40th year. And there are many prices in various categories. 

Greer is only in it's sixth year so the prizes are less ($300.00) and while they accept a variety of media, they only offer Global Greer and Greer as juried show categories to tie in with the Greer Festival.  Global Greer can involve the upstate so I'm entering one of my landscapes of the foothills of the Piedmont in Marietta where I used to go hiking near Jones Gap.
I haven't decided on what to enter into  Anderson's yet  but we get to enter two  pieces. 
I've also been  busy, when not watching my granddaughter, Deven, finding more wooden surfaces at thrift stores and priming them. 
.I now have six boards waiting to be painted. 
I completed a new piece this week, "Three Nudes under Two Moons," my first acrylic in many years.  Deven was painting a jewelry box for her mother and we only have acrylics at my daughter's house.  .
My friend and awesome painter, Donna Nyzio sent me some links to how to market your art work  and trends in the art collecting world and it was surprising to learn that collectors are downsizing their collections and buying more from artist's studios where they can meet the artists or purchasing art sight unseen from online. 
I've finally updated my website at Gail Gray Studios but also wanted to do some juried shows and charity art auctions to get local  nd regional exposure.  Since I don't have my  work in the Village at the West End currently, I thought it was time to try this route. Donna's been getting her work into a number of juried shows,  but then she's a much better artist than I am a hundred fold.   

On a Roll with Painting

It's been great to be back in my studio again.  I've finished seven paintings since I started painting again in January and have two half finished.  I'm focusing mainly on figures right now for some reason and using a similar pallette of pthalo blue, Payne's grey, lamp black, zinc white, yellow ochre, light red, vermillion, terra verte and sienna. I'm working with oils on wood surfaces, often using items I find at thrift stores, as well as the cradled wood boxes I used for encaustics. I found that I liked the way oils worked on wood while I was doing my landscape series of encaustics and had some primed and ready to go when I started painting again.  I've been able to finish as piece in a day once in a while working wet on wet but most of the time, it takes two or three sessions with drying time in between, so I can finish one in a week.  Most of them are small, but I found a wooden panel, 31X19 at the new SOS thrift store which just opened right near my house, so I'll be going large.  This will be quite a challenge for me, I've only finished two large canvases 36X24 in the past ten years I've been painting.
This is all in preparation for an invitation to enter a juried show in Columbia, SC in March.  I don't know if I'll finish the big panel in time, but I'll try.  I've got to prime it first so won't get started on the actual painting until Sunday. I'm planning on doing a figure but am not sure what yet. I also have three small panels primed and ready to be painted.  And since I was gifted with a new set of 12 oil paints so I can't delay because of lack of materials.  It's just finding the studio time.
I've updated my website with all of the paintings I did prior to being diagnosed with cancer and plan to photograph all the news ones on Saturday so my site will be up to date.  I've been debating who to proceed in the coming months.  I miss having my work at Les Beaux Arts and miss the int4eraction with the other artists there but am also really tempted by the new studios which will be opening in Brandon Mill in the Village at the West End in May at the Greenville Center for the Arts.
I found the time to visit The Village Grind, a new coffee shop in the Village at the West End and a great gathering place for artists.  Wonderful coffee and great people.  The owner is the niece of Mark Mulfinger and two of his large paintings are hanging in the shop.  I can't wait for Mark and I to go.  I also stopped by Art&Light and saw their new digs and artists' work including Teresa Pace, Kent Ambler, Paul Flint, and Diane Kilgore.