Watertown Arts Festival...soggy but what fun!

I showed my pressed flower art at the The Watertown Arts Festival that was held this past weekend! Even if the weather was drippy, cool and a bit windy there were many smiles on faces I saw. I think most of the artists were glad that they attended, as I sure was. From noon til the end of the show I offered folks a chance to make their own, free pressed flower bookmark. Who can resist flowers?! Young and old had a blast and went home with a new little treasure.
I would like to extend my heartfelt 'thank you' and also my congrats to the Watertown Business Association for a wonderful job in organizing this show. The committee, led up by Kay Solberg, did an excellent job with setting up this affair...the advertising was the best I have ever seen for events like these and everything went very smoothly in spite of the weather! We are all looking forward to next year's event and are encouraging all local artists to join us next year.
This year, as part of the Festival, all of the artists were invited to place one of their artworks in the Redlin Art Center in Watertown, SD. This is a hugely popular art center and features only the work of nationally know artist, Terry Redlin. To have our art hanging for the month of June in this prestigious art center is truly an honor and wonderful opportunity to share what we love to do with many more people. Julie, at the Center, organized a wonderful Artist's Reception on Friday night. Thanks so much, Julie! You made us all feel so special.
In addition to the wonderful opportunity at the Redlin Art Center the public was asked to vote for their favorite piece. There was an Award's Dinner on Saturday night at the Goss Opera House and we learned of the results of the voting! I am so pleased to say that the piece I entered, my window box piece titled 'The Front Porch of Life', was awarded First Place in the Mixed Media category! I received many kind remarks about it and was so thrilled that some were even able to tell that it was made of pressed plant material. It is my dream that one day there will be a specific category in all shows for 'Pressed Flower Art'!
One of the best parts of this show was getting to meet so many talented and passionate artists! I look forward to many new friendships.
Thanks again to all who helped to make this event a success for us all.

My art made it into the South Dakota Magazine!

Well, you can sure imagine how excited I was about getting my work in this magazine!! It is the most popular magazine in SoDak. You can find it in the May/June 2010 issue...and, of course, I bought several! All the folks at the magazine were so wonderful and helpful. I want to especially thank Katie Hunhoff for all her efforts...she was a delight to work with.
I also want to thank Brenda at Expressions Art Gallery and Frame Shop in Watertown, SD. Brenda volunteered to take the photos to send to Katie. I am still just clueless when it comes to this kind of technical stuff. She did a wonderful job with the photos. And I can't say enough about their excellent framing...all three pieces that I have entered in competitions were framed there. I have to think that the presentation these frames created added to my work...all three won ribbons! And now the best part...Dianna, at Expressions Gallery, asked me if I wanted to display this piece in the gallery! So I have finally reached my first goal...to get my work in a gallery. Dianna has it displayed with the magazine article. And it is right next to one of my favorite wildlife artists...Josh Spies!! This wonderful artist won the national duck stamp contest recently. He also has many of his pieces at the Goss Opera House in Watertown.

Philadelphia International Flower Show...other entry

This picture, titled 'Front Porch of Life', is my other entry to the show. This one took the first place ribbon in it's category. I spent about 3 weeks on this one and leaned a lot, also. The walls and porch are made of the fall leaves of the day lily. They are brown and brittle when I pick them. Then they were re-hydrated and ironed dry and flat. The flowers in the window box are oregano blooms, white alyssum, purple candytuft, thyme sprigs and bachelor button petals. The watering can is made of the gray backsides of the white poplar tree leaves and the gloves are of fall leaves. This one is now on display the the Redlin Art Center in Watertown, SD. It is in a competition that is sponsored by the Watertown Business Association in conjunction with their Arts and Crafts Festival on June 12, 2010. I will be displaying my art at the Health Food Store on Kemp St. during this show.

Philadelphia International Flower Show Entries

Last March I entered two pressed flower art pieces in the Philadelphia International Flower Show and was honored with awards on both! I was very pleased! Above is my Mt. Rushmore picture that took 3rd place in its category. This one was an extreme challenge for me. Took me 6 weeks to get this one done...but learned a lot in the process! The sky is made of blue and white petals of delphinium. The faces and most of the rest is made from the white/gray side of the white poplar tree and also from some weeds I found at our lake place that had gray undersides. I am also very happy to say that Expressions Art Gallery in Watertown, SD has asked me to let them display it in their shop! Finally got into a gallery!

Oh, my! Has it been that long since I've posted on here?! Lots has happened since my last post so guess I better get busy.
My fall shows went well. I sold my favorite piece, 'Time for a Rest'...the one with the geese landing in the harvested field. It went to a good home in Texas though. And I got 4 orders for 'Midnight'! I was glad I decided to take orders and after doing 3 more of him I think I got the technique, as well as drawing horses, down pat. I really want to do more with the cotton wood 'fluff'...found a couple of trees with the pods low enough that I can get to them before they 'pop'.
I met a wonderful lady on line recently who does beautiful work with pressed flowers and mandalas. I never heard of these but sure hope to be learning more soon...very intriguing. Here is the link to her website:
http://www.tamlondonhummingbirdarts.com
She is a truly wonderful blogger and is the one who has inspired me to get back to my own here. You will find a link to her blog on her home page. I am betting that you will be just as intrigued with her mandala art as I am!
Will post more tomorrow about the Philadelphia International Flower Show...stay tuned!