Best in...What?!?!?

                                           Best in Show!!!

AANC's Small Works "Best in Show"

 "Pride"

5"x7" Graphite on Paper

  AANC's Small Works 1st Place Graphite

"Unbridled"

5"x7" Graphite on Paper

So, last night was the opening night and judging reception for the Artists Association of Northern Colorado's Small Works Art Show and Sale. I had decided to enter "Pumpkin Harvest", "Unbridled", and "Pride" into the show. The requirements of the show is that each piece must be 8"x10" or smaller. What was neat about this show, is that the art was judged by medium, instead of subject.

Of course, the Oil division was outstanding. The quality of work was unbelievable, and I was just thrilled to have my piece on the wall next to the winning oil painting, lol.

I was very proud of my bestest Art Buddy =LG-Young for taking 1st in the watercolor category, and an honorable mention in the mixed media division!!! It was a big win for her, as we were both shocked at the quality of work that was on display throughout the whole show. There were probably over 50 pieces there that knocked our socks off.

Then came the final award for the night. I was the only graphite artist to enter, with my two pieces, so I wasn't surprised to learn that I took 1st place in my division, lol. What DID surprise me, was that Unbridled took 1st over Pride. I love both pieces, but to me, Pride is just far more of a skilled piece that Unbridled.

As we stood there, next to Unbridled and Pride, the judge says "Now I'd like to award Best in Show to the Graphite piece Pride, by Christine M Torrez!!" ...What??? Wait...

You mean ME?!?!?!?

Recently I had lost motivation and was questioning my abilities. I was feeling a touch of artist burnout, and was letting my self doubt get the better of me. I guess this is a serious sign that I am on the right track, and to quit now would be utterly a waist.  It never fails to amaze me that when I feel like I've hit the end of my journey, a greater being than me sets me back on track, and gives me a good kick from behind to set me on my way again.


Fall down 7 times, stand up 8.

I'm back on my feet again.

Happy Accidents...

...And the Shadow Dragon lives!

While I appreciate digital art, I seldom find myself able to make such things with my computer. I do have a few digital pieces under my belt now, including one very professional logo for my Aiki Jitsu instructors system. However, yesterday while uploading a photo of my recent graphite drawing of an oriental style dragon, I decided to invert the values to check my shading, and to be sure it still looked right. I was completely blown away with what popped onto my computer screen! My daughter, who was sifting through years of uncatalogued photos in my filing cabinet drawer, told me in excitement that I should post the newly discovered version to my Deviant Art site. Happily, I did, and with great success I've had more views on it in one day than I have on many of my original pieces that have been on that site for years! LOL....

Just goes to show what a little dumb luck and a good drawing with strong values can do.

Epic... Painting...

..Fail!

I often use the term, "They can't all be gems", and boy did I paint a dud this past week. Unlike Friday's attempt for on site painting, my previous two Plein Air paintings turned out rather nice. If you'll notice the nice piece up above, that's my view of the Cashe Le Poudre river running high in May. I had become so enthralled by my surroundings, and so connected to where I was, that it just flowed out of my hands. I really didn't have to think too much about it, nor did I concern myself with any "what ifs". I just painted.

What I've always known, yet am coming to really realize, is that it's very hard to capture a scene when there is little emotional connections. With my art buddy Laura ( please see Lauragyoung.blogspot.com for a veiw of her beautiful plein air painting from the day) in tow, we headed out to City Park. It was one of those days where we wanted to paint, but really didn't know where to go. We ended up on Sheldon Lake, and found a neat little area that overlooked the lake, viewing the foothills and mountains. There to the right of me, was a cool little duck island just about 30 feet off shore. and out ahead of me on the lake sat a little red lifeguards boat at a small dock. There were lots of billowy cumulus clouds hanging over head, blotting out the sun. I told my self, "yeah, this will do". And so we began to paint.

2 hours later, I found myself struggling to complete a dark, muddy, over-worked and over-thought mess. The perspective was off, the colors were too dark and the scene was very "elementary quality". Le Sigh....

After taking some time to reflect on this painting (of which is not photographed nor will be shown for good reasons), I've really come down to the emotional connection which I feel I really lacked. True, the lighting made things tricky, being that the sun was disappearing and reappearing throughout the session. It gave me very little contrast to work with. And I made some beginner mistakes as well, not toning my canvas first (amazing how that threw my painting off.. the gesso was absorbing the paint and caused me to over layer everything), and not penciling in the scene better. My next mistake was not mixing my colors properly. I'll be sure to bring a better color pallet with me next time as well. But what really mattered was that I myself was not fully in the moment. I was too disconnected with my art. Lack of sleep the night before, the onset of a head cold, and various stresses made for a much more challenging day.


The one good thing that came out of this whole day, was that I now have more insight to what I need to make produce a better painting. Perhaps on my next outdoor adventure, I'll be sure to cut through the mental blocks, be better prepaired, and make sure that I'm going to have a much better emotional connection with where I am.

But hey, They can't all be gems. :)