Finding Time to Blog, and Paint

How on earth do people blog who have a life? I just got back Sunday late at night from the AWA (American Women Artists) Master’s Weekend in Tucson. That is deserving of an entry on its own, so here goes.

What a powerhouse group of ladies in this organization, and even more important, how wonderfully sharing they all are.

The first show in Tubac had some of my heroes in it, so it was a thrill to see many works there by names I knew, if not the people. I have decided to put Nancy Boren on retainer just for her skill in naming works. She had an amazing portrait there of a young sullen cowgirl, and the title was fetching as all get out. All the pieces were blow you out of the water good. I am really going to have to do my duck impersonation and be calm on the exterior and paddle like heck underwater to even come up to close to this group. These painters will prompt me to grow and everybody needs that. Me especially. Its awfully easy to get complacent. Especially if you are selling what you are doing and/or everybody seems to like what you paint. Tack on a studio in the tullies, and you are your only critic. So a group that establishes a high benchmark is a real plus.

Easy complacency is not the journey I want. I want every day and every painting to teach me to be better at this passion of mine. This group will help me do that. Just to get up to their standards will be a stretch. And I don’t do yoga.  I found myself giving myself counsel as I painted in the studio this afternoon “Stephanie Birdsall said this, and Carol Swinney said that……it just keeps getting replayed in my mind.

The paintout was great and at the Sonoran Desert Museum. People were so nice and I painted an absolute bummer of a painting. It needs repair as I spotted a major compositional error after I got it home. So I will fix it when we return from a family do in about a week, or simply use it as a takeoff for a studio piece, but with corrections in place.

I did ask how people blog who have a life, didn’t I? Now if only Texas weren’t so darned big to have to cross.

To see the show online go to http://americanwomenartists.org/events/gallery

Amazing ladies all.