2025 Schedule and trying new mediums

Well it’s been a while since I used the old blog page here at the site. My apologies. Sometimes I have a tendency to get stretched in multiple directions, leaving some things in attended. Hey, it happens to us all.

The 2025 schedule of shows is filling up.

Shows at the Moline Punlic Library and Woodlawn Arts Academy are wrapping up at the end of January and the following shows are booked after.

February-Oregon Colosseum, Oregon IL. I’ll have two pieces in their portrait show

May- Solo show at NCIArtworks in Peru IL

June- Springfield Art Assocoation Solo show in The Cellar. Springfield IL

July/August- Quad Cities International Airport, Featured artist, Moline IL

There are a few more in the works but dates haven’t been pinned down yet

So, I’ve began working with a new medium. I’m still working with white on black, but I’ve started to use pan pastels. If you’re unfamiliar with them, they are compressed pastels in small round cases, much like a make up compact. They are applied with various sponges or other impliments. Simply put, I love them. What started as a new way to achieve tonal work underneath my pencil detail has turned into using the pastels only. I’ll still use the white pencils in future projects, but I’m thoroughly enjoying the freedom this new medium creates. But in this lies a deliemma. Maybe it’s just in my own head, but I feel that with a particular style, you’re under certain expectations and obligations. People who have purchased or will purchase pieces know what to expect. I know what to expect. And maybe that’s why I’m trying a new medium. I was beginning to know what to expect too much. Art is about passion and remaining fresh and interested. And while I was not in any tyoe of rut, so to speak, trying something new has really woken me up and sparked something. So I hope that you understand and appreciate these new pieces and why they look like they do. (The piece attached to this blog is a new one). Its still me. I'm just playing with new things. 😉

75th Annual Phidian Art Show

The Phidian Organization in Dixon Illinois has held its art show for 75 years. This event features regional artists works judged in various categories. It is the premier show in the area with the largest prize purse awarded to several different pieces. I am humbled and honored to report that my piece, “Oklahoma:1938” was selected as best in show this year. This is the third consecutive year that the Best in Show award has been awarded to one of my pieces. To say I am amazed is a complete understatement. I would like to thank judge Tim Harrison, The Phidian Organization and The Next Picture Show Gallery for all of their work for this wonderful show.

Slowing Down

We live in a time of speed. Quick this, instant that, high speed something or rather. It's easy to get caught up in. Soon your attention span is that of a gnat on caffeine and your on medication to treat heart palpitations. As an artist, you are not immune to this way of operating. Show applications, commission deadlines, keeping up with your social media, opening receptions, networking, supporting other artists, sales, shipping. All of that and that doesn't include just trying to be in the studio creating the actual artwork that is the basis for the entire thing. So slowing down has always been at the forefront of how I want to handle this art venture. I have a regular job. (A term I hate as an artist but use it anyway). That job comes with enough stress. I don't need to have art go down that same road. Yet, because we're bombarded with go,go,go, it can happen anyway. So sometimes I need to make a conscious effort to not let it. And for the most part, so far, so good.

As an artist, you get asked a lot of questions. From the normal, "How much is it?" or "How long did that take you?" to the deeper, more thought provoking ones. I was once asked in an interview, "When someone visits a gallery and views your show, what do you want them to take away from it!?" I don't remember how I answered. Probably some long, drawn out thing, much like this blog. But a while back someone sent this picture, the one attached to the header of this very blog, and that's when I knew the real answer to the question. I want them to sit down and look at it. To feel something from it. And while that seems like an obvious answer, sometimes this hectic life clouds our overall goal. But when we slow down enough to enjoy seeing someone else slow down and enjoy our work, that is the ultimate. Of all of the random gallery shots I have clogging up the memory of my iPhone, this is and will always be, my favorite. It's what I need to keep in my head as to what to strive for when creating. What I need to keep in my head as to how to go about life. What we all need to do once in a while. Slowing down.