I finished the portrait and just made a few small changes from the last progress picture. Anyway, I’ve begun a self-portrait piece, and since I always struggle with those the most, we shall see how it progresses.
I just finished this one–and stayed up a little too late working on it. Anyway, I’m actually doing a series of dog portraits for commission work. There will be a few others in the future scattered here and there in my posts.
I’ve gotten started with sketching out another portrait. If I get around to collaging it, I’ll post pictures of that one as well.
I’ll probably jump back into this one later to tweak a few spots. As for my next piece, I think I’ll turn back to portraiture.
I saw these funny looking flowers in the butterfly garden on the mall in Washington, D.C., and I thought I’d do a collage of them. For my next piece, I think I’ll create another animal collage.
Here’s a quick, kind of abstract collage I just finished.
My collage, “Open Skies,” was accepted into the Art League’s juried landscape exhibition. The exhibition was juried by Walter Bartman. There were 694 entries and of those, 158 were accepted. The show will run from August 6th to September 2nd in the Art League Gallery in the Torpedo Factory in Old Town, Alexandria.
August 6 – September 2, 2008
Art League Gallery; Alexandria, Virginia
Map and Gallery Info
Megan Coyle’s “Open Skies” collage was on dislpay in the Art League’s annual landscape juried exhibition. The group exhibition showcased the diversity in the approach to an old fashion subject matter – landscapes and cityscapes. Works ranged in materials, with mixed media pieces, paintings, photograhy, charcoal drawings, and more.
The exhibition was juried by Walter Bartman.
694 works of art were entered into the exhibition and only 158 were accepted.
The Art League created a juror’s statement with Walter Bartman. The statement included the following:
When Walter Bartman juries a landscape show, he seeks to select pieces that are atypical landscapes. “If you’re going to paint landscape, you have to go beyond the obvious.” Bartman felt that many of the pieces submitted were repetitive, ordinary renderings of water, sunsets, or trees. He wanted to see more artists approaching “landscape” with a fresh, unanticipated point of view.
“I was looking for something unexpected, something surprising. Landscape is all about the use of space.” Pieces in which the artist uniquely used space, pattern, scale, and angles were some of the elements Bartman looked for. In “Little Washington #2,” by John Mallos, Bartman was drawn to the play between abstraction and representation, scale, striking angles, and simplicity.
Unexpected color choices, like in Jane Hahler’s, “Before Dark, Lima Peru,” can add an emotional element to a work. “In this painting, you can feel that you’re in the city and it’s a hot summer evening.” The artist has succeeded in portraying a sense of mood. Awarded The Jay and Helen Risser Award, “Leftovers,” by Fred Markham, “is an example of a strong black and white piece, with strong tonal values that is beautifully done. The perspective and angles in this piece are interesting.”
“North Shore Autumn,” by BJ Anderson, captured the Potomac Valley Watercolorists Award. “This is a memorable piece. Unique in perspective and scale, you don’t typically see landscapes like this. Multiple layers of pigment were applied to achieve the intense saturation and vividness of color. The artist was able to retain a sense of flatness which is interesting.”
Bartman has juried for The Art League several times, and has been critical of the work previously. But this time he found the most variety of unique work he has seen at The Art League, and a group of highly competent artists.
He thought photography was among the weakest media, with many “snapshots” submitted and fewer abstracted, creative compositions presented. However he did select and award an honorable mention to “New York Reflections” by Alexandra Scannell. “I like the perspective and the break up of space in this piece,” he stated.
Bartman has worked in the Bethesda, MD area for over thirty years. Nationally acclaimed landscape painter and instructor, he received his BA in Art Education from the University of Maryland and his MFA from American University. He is the Founder and Director of the Yellow Barn Studio and Gallery at Glen Echo Park in Maryland.
I finished the commissioned dog collage tonight–much to my surprise. I thought it would take me at least another day, even though the piece is fairly small. Now I’ll have some time to work on the portrait collage tomorrow.
I just finished this mini-flower collage. I’m working on a bunch of projects all at once, so hopefully I’ll have something completed by tomorrow–but if not, you’ll know what I’ll be doing–busy collaging. Today I also got started on making sketches for a commissioned piece of a dog, and a couple of days ago I got started on another fairly large portrait.