ever since i moved to Idaho i have tried to enter a painting or two into the annual Western Idaho State Fair Art Exhibit held in Boise. i enter paintings mostly because it's a great opportunity to have my work viewed by thousands of people as they browse through the exhibits...and there is always the chance that the judges will like my work & i could win a cash prize.
for years i have displayed my impressionistic landscape oil paintings in various venues around the world (coffee shops, small galleries, juried art shows, and fairs). and almost every year at the Western Idaho State Fair i have been blessed to receive a ribbon or two...("honorable mention" or "4th place").
this year i noticed they had a couple of new categories listed in the handbook for submissions: abstract and mixed media. this got me excited, because along with painting impressionistic landscapes in oil...i also create expressionistic abstracts in mixed media...and other than the displaying my abstracts once in awhile in the quarterly juried art exhibits in the VineArts Gallery at the Vineyard Boise church, i have not ventured out to display my abstracts in any other art show or venue.
so i decided to take a risk and give it a try. i really wasn't sure how my abstracts would stand up against the rest of the competition out there. but i gave it a shot. i entered my painting "Sweetly Broken" (a 24x36" framed mixed media expressionistic abstract painting on canvas: oil, latex house paint, acrylic, printed images, sketches, words, objects)....and to my complete surprize, i won a ribbon!
a first place blue ribbon! with cash prize!
boy oh boy, i'm glad i took the risk!
