For me, this is exciting!

From time to time I enter art competitions.  I submit images of my work for review by a juror or group with the understanding that s/he/they will check them out and decide if what I've done ought to be included in the art show they have planned.  In the past I've announced my intention to enter competitions on these pages and have, more often than not, failed to catch the favorable eyes of the juror(s) on those occasions. 
Well, I've revised my strategy.  I decided after a few too many disappointments that I'd keep my applications to myself.  So maybe it worked!  On January 20th I received an email from the director of the South Shore Art Center in Cohasset, Massachusetts that one of my submissions to the "Love" themed exhibit, set to open on February 14, 2014, was accepted!
Adding to my excitement and feeling of success was the fact that the juror, Eric Aho, is someone whose work I appreciate very much.  Having an accomplished professional selecting my work to include is flattering.
A copy of the piece is below.  I titled it "Sunset in New Mexico with Alcohol".  It's oil on canvas.

I did many preliminary drawings before actually heading off in the direction resulting in the above and I think I'll post them here over the next several days.  Fun for me to look back and see where this came from.
I got the idea for the piece from reading a short story by Raymond Carver entitled "What we talk about when we talk about love".  What the characters spoke about on a late afternoon in New Mexico included everything from infidelity, divorce, abuse of one sort or another, excesses and the commitments of love and marriage.  I thought the story engaging and took the liberty of creating a portrait of a moment I created, partly from the prose, but in large measure from of my imagination.

South Shore Art Center
www.ssac.org
119 Ripley Road
Cohasset, MA 02025
781-383-2787

"Love" is on exhibit in the Bancroft Gallery from February 14, 2014 until March 23, 2014.
There is an opening reception from 6-8p.m. on February 14, 2014