Finally an acceptance into a show. If you have ever wondered if my work is rejected from competitions, I can assure you, yes! Rejection is part of the process, you must work through it and shrug it off. I've been declined 2 times already this year. The 2 paintings which were dismissed from these exhibits oddly enough will be featured in magazines this summer. That makes it pretty clear to me that you can never accurately anticipate what the juror has in mind regarding the selection process for the exhibit. Some pieces are rejected in some places while praised and awarded in others. 

Anyway, I'm excited to be a part of the 72nd Annual Wabash Valley Exhibition. This show will be downtown Terre Haute, IN at the Swope Art Museum; it will be my first juried exhibition of 2016. It will also be the first time my rations painting will be displayed in a show. Here is a link to the museum's website - https://www.swope.org/. 

Since last December I've been working on a commissioned painting for a client's wife. His wife is a bird enthusiast and he thought a painting of some of her birding items would make a great present. All this time he has kept the painting a secret from her so this would be a surprise. Last week I finally completed the piece and shipped it out to them, just in time for Mother's Day. I can't imagine how exciting this Mother's Day was for her! 

Here is the painting, and as always, all items are painted their actual size. It's 12" x 20" and oil on panel. There are some interesting textures in this one. Many of them are familiar, but the book and feather were new challenges for me. There was a lot scrapping to achieve the book texture, also some glazing in the ceramic bird - something I don't normally do. This painting was a great learning experience and I'm glad it came out as well as it did.