Recap of 2010 in my world of Art

Recap of my art endeavors in 2010.

As the 2010 year is closing, I have thought about all the fun things that have happened for my art.
Being invited to the Invitational Only Group Exhibit in Sedona, Arizona for 2011 seemed to be my biggest moment, and I am sure it will be one of my biggest moments in 2011, when I go. I’ll be flying out there for the exhibit, and site seeing and gallery hopping and meeting the other exhibiting artists.

In March of 2010 I had my watercolor painting Apple butter juried into the 20th Annual Maine Open Juried Art Show held in Waterville, Maine. That was an exciting moment, as I had never been juried into this exhibit in the past, and not only was my work juried in, but it was an Equine piece!

In April of 2010 I had entered two watercolors of wildlife paintings into the Augusta Maine Sportsman Show. I was very excited that The next generation, American Kestrel took Third Place!
This same painting in July, took First Place, Best in Show, and People's Choice Award at the Penobscot Bay Carvers and Artists Maine Coast Competition, Belfast, Maine.

In May of 2010 I was asked to be one of the Jurors for the Dancing Horse Farm & Picture This Gallery Equine Art Exhibit in Lebanon, Ohio. This was my first time jurying an exhibit. It brought a lot of insight to me, on how things are done in the process and what to look for in a work of art. I believe it has helped me in my own creations of art. Because I was a Juror, I was allowed to hang three of my works in the exhibit.
I sent three of my Child a day watercolors, which depicted children with horses.




 

 Also in May, I had a watercolor accepted into the 2010 Project Puffin  Seabird  Exhibit.  Family Flight, Common Eiders  Watercolor. At the Project Puffin Center on Main Street, Rockland, Maine. That work stayed there through out the Summer.

  May 7th through May 30, 2010: I was juried into the  Art2010 15th Annual Juried show at the Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, Maine.  If walls could speak, Fort Knox  Watercolor.

 

 In June 2010 121st Annual Member Exhibition at the National Arts Club 15 Gramercy Park South NYC 10003 National Association of Women Artists Member Exhibit. New York.  Winter shelter  was on Exhibit.
This painting has since sold also.

July 10 & 11, 2010 Arts in the Park, Belfast, Maine. Two day outside art festival,.on the Waterfront in Heritage Park, Downtown Belfast, Maine. Torrential down pours threatened to flood out my booth, but I was able to save all the art! That sure was an experience I don’t care to repeat  But I plan on applying for a booth spot for 2011. Lets hope the weather behaves it’s self. 

July 17, 2010 Waterville Intown Arts Festival. Outside festival on Main Street, Waterville, Maine. I was very excited when I learned that my watercolor painting (another Equine subject matter) Grumpy draft took Third Place in the watercolor division!

August 14, 2010 Art at the beach, Lincolnville, Maine at the 'Whales tooth pub' grounds. I had my booth set up at this small but fun exhibit. The weather was great and a fairly good crowd.

August 21 2010 - December 3, 2010 'Down East sails up town' Group Exhibit byDesign Gallery, Bangor, Maine. This was a very interesting exhibit, with around 300 artists exhibiting. Paintings were placed in different venues in the Downtown Bangor area. My watercolor painting If walls could speak (Pictured above) was in this exhibit.

 August 24 - September 25, 2010 I was so excited to have my watercolor painting Back in the saddle accepted into the Breckenridge Fine Art Museum’s 19th annual Fine Art Exhibit & Sale, Breckenridge, Texas. My first Museum exhibit!


 

 

 In September, the 23, 24, 25, 26, 2010 I had two watercolors accepted into the Art at the Classic, Draft Horse Classic, Grass valley California. The paintings were Grumpy draft and Lift off. I was so pleased to learn that Grumpy draft took Third Place and a Limited Edition Print of the Grumpy sold while there!

Near the end of September I founded the International Equine Artists. What a ride that has been! At the moment we are up to 79 talented members! I created the website which you can see here: http://www.internationalequineartists.com I also created a private forum for the members to use, a Yahoo email group for them and was able to get discounted group ads in the Horses in Art Magazine. And in just a couple months time, we pulled ourselves together and created an online member exhibit that went live December 1st! Complete with People’s Choice voting!

In November 5, 2010 - December 31, 2010 I had my watercolor painting Big sky dreams accepted into the Sun Bowl Art Exhibit 2010, The International Museum of Fine Art of El Paso, Texas. Another Museum exhibit within just a couple months of one another! I was a bit on cloud nine with that!

There was many exhibits and memberships that brought rejection slips to my door, but that hasn’t discouraged me one bit! It gives me something to work towards, or in retrospect, I have decided, upon further investigation, that I’m not so keen on following those ventures now. In this world of art, one must be flexible and change with the flow of where our art may go.

 

I have grown with my painting, understanding of and handling of the watercolor medium. I have more confidence to break free from my comfort zone. I am full of excitement to work the human form into my art even more. I have started this with the creation of the Straw Hat Series. Who knew I would have so much fun painting straw hats?! Gathering the reference images for this series has really been fun! It seems like everywhere I went this past Summer, I was seeing a funky, fun hat that I wanted to paint! And while I was painting these hats, with the elements of the human conditions attached to them, I learned so much about myself and how I was feeling at the time of painting them. Some held a deeper meaning for me than others, and each painting holds a special meaning in some form or another. This series isn’t finished, as I have many more reference shots I took to use and so much more I want to show you, the viewer, collector, follower and lover of my art.
 

Then I discovered the Trail of Painted Ponies models. Finding a new way to show my feelings about things in my life and things that come across my desk. As in the Mustang and his plight to run free. My first pony model was the Mustang, rearing up, fighting for his Freedom with America. This model sold right away! I’m still working on my second model, which brings out the little girl dreams of horses. That ever haunting memory and wonder of how the horse effects us girls!

 

 And speaking of the emotions of horses and man, I published my third book this year! This book has been successful. It covers my most emotional paintings of horses and people. Titled: The Equine Art of Debbie Flood, A brush with emotions, spirits, & bonds of horses and man. This book was a joy to put together and an even more joy to get that 1st copy and hold it in my hands, my most emotional messages in art, in print!

My latest endeavor that will carry over into 2011 is the largest watercolor painting I have ever painted! A Full Sheet of Arches 300 lb Watercolor paper, 23 x 29 inches! I am loving every minute of this project! Be sure to look for more works in watercolor, done large!

 My Belfast’s Past Series continues also. My latest watercolor painting was of the Windsor Hotel. This Hotel is no longer in Belfast. There will also be more images to add to this series, I’m working on one as I write this. 10% of sales from Originals and Prints is donated to the Belfast Historical Society Museum.


To find these projects and more, visit my website at http://www.debfloodart.com

I wish for you a most joyous and prosperous New Year, 2011!
I look forward to 2011 and all it may hold for me and my art
Debbie

'Rumbles in the Sky' Progress on the large Watercolor of the Cowgirl on a Paint Horse by Debbie Flood

 

 

I seem to be sailing along on this watercolor. Even though it is so large, 23 x 29 inches. I've been mostly concentrating on the cowgirl and working up glazes on her. And I have been darkening the sky with glazes also.

The title, Rumbles in the sky, came about when I was posting this on my facebook fan page and we were discussing what she could be looking at.
I'm having fun with this large painting, and I am thinking about creating more large paintings. I enjoy painting the human form and I may explore that subject matter more, in the larger sizes. We shall see what 2011 brings me for new projects and ideas to explore.

Have a Happy New Year and be safe when you are out and about!
Debbie

Cowgirl on her Paint Horse/ Watercolor on a full sheet of Arches By Debbie Flood

Today I worked on the Cowgirl & Paint Horse watercolor. Darkened the sky even more and added cloud shadows. I've been working on that sky for quite awhile now. This paper takes a lot of glazes to get the degree of color I want. Lots more glazing needed than the watercolor board I typically work with. It's like painting a sponge..lol 

I also worked on the upper half of the cowgirl. I'm enjoying starting to apply the sunlight upon her hat and hair. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I had a lot of fun with family and my kids. 

This week the kids are on school vacation, so I have been mostly cleaning out the studio. Really, how many cardboard frame boxes does one need to save? I had them stored up in a crawl space over the studio. I have a cathedral ceiling, but the half over my son's room is the storage area. I cleaned those boxes out of there and was able to have enough room to get 'stuff' off the studio floor! Foot room now! So much nicer to be able to move in there without taking a header into something! And there is now room for my dog to stretch out in the sunshine that comes streaming in (on sunny days!) hmmm...something else for me to trip over! lol  At least the boxes will be recycled and used again somewhere else. Don't worry, I still have more...stored out of the studio! 

Wishing you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year! 2011 is going to be one awesome year for me....I can feel it! 

Debbie

Cowgirl & Paint Horse Watercolor on a Full Sheet by Debbie Flood

Boy, Who ever thought I would be creating such a large watercolor painting?! Not me! ha ha.
But I am loving every minute of this one. This is Arches 300 lb Watercolor paper. 23 x 30 inch sheet (Full Sheet).
The image I had, was way to big for my Watercolor board that I usually paint on. The board comes 20 x 30, but was just a tad too small.
I have the horse and rider filling the paper.
This may not have been the best week to start this, with the hub-bub of the Christmas Holiday upon us, but one can't squelch the need to create! I have felt so much more happier and livelier today, after starting the painting part of this project. I need to paint, that's all there is to it.
There was the best morning light washing across this horse and rider, the day I saw them. I just knew I would have to paint that, to show everyone else what I saw. And the only way I felt that I could show you that moment, was to paint it large.
I've had to put it on my framing table and stand up to paint this one. No way can I sit at the large drawing table with this one. I often have to set it up on the easel and step back to look at it. Not the typical way of painting a watercolor, but it is working for me!


I'll update this when I have time, if at all this week. Relatives are coming tomorrow and there are a lot of butter cookies and cowboy cookies that need baking! YUM!!
Have a great Christmas!
Debbie

'The Gift' New Watercolor of Children and Paint Horse by Debbie Flood

Today I painted. It seems this time of Year, is so busy with family, friends, getting ready for Christmas day, that it is so very hard to get to the studio and concentrate, or have the lack of concentration, to get into the creative mojo. But today, I made a point to go to the Watercolor table and paint this 5 x 7 Watercolor 'The gift' . It felt really good to be painting children and horses again. This image came to me a few months ago and has been waiting patiently for me to recreate it with paint.

I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas, and all your Holiday functions are fun and safe. With Christmas fast approaching, I'm not sure if I will get another update out before the big day. So know that I am thinking of you  and wishing the best of times with your loved ones.

Now, I must attack that stack of recipes that await. Fudge, cookies, pudding.....the list is long!
Enjoy the rest of your week and the upcoming weekend!
Debbie

Knot listening. Western Straw Hat Series Watercolor by Debbie Flood

Hello! It seems to be that time of year again, where hours turn into minutes! Boy, not sure where the time goes! I must be having fun.
Last week I  had my new Laptop delivered to me. Windows 7. Jury is still out, if I like it or not. ha ha. I'm getting better acquainted with it. The thing that bothers me the most is that many of my things, Scanner, Printer and other applications, just are not compatible with the W7. Hmmm. So I guess now I have to get a new scanner. Smart aren't they! Create new computers so we'll have to buy more stuff to use on them! This is the 1st time I have attached an image to the email. I'm using Mozzilla Thunderbird. Something else to get used to.
We shall see if the image gets to you!

This painting is included in the 'Straw Hat Series". Titled: Knot listening. 13 x 15 Watercolor (if my memory on the size is correct). It's pretty much finished. I'm waiting for the paint to dry (hey, isn't that a saying?) then I will check the details, shadows, and a few other things.

I've got a couple of venues with looming deadlines, that I would like to enter, so another reason to get this one finished!

Today was a snow day for the kids! It is now officially Winter in Maine! The wood stove is cranking out the heat and it's so nice and cozy here in my Saltbox home. I'm getting into hibernation mode!
If you are hibernating too, a really great online exhibit to check out is the International Equine Artists Member Holiday-Winter Exhibit 2010-2011! I have 2 paintings in this exhibit also! The art is amazing and you get to vote for People's Choice! http://www.internationalequineartists.com

Have a great week! Talk again soon,
Debbie

International Equine Artists Online Member Holiday-Winter Exhibit 2010-2011

The International Equine Artists are proud to present their first member Exhibit! The Holiday-Winter Exhibit 2010-2011 online at http://www.internationalequineartists.com

View some of the best Equine Art from around the World! You can also participate by making your People's Choice Vote! The Artists winning 1st and 2nd place will receive a monetary award.
Most works are for sale. Those works not for sale, you may contact the Artist about other works they may have or commissioning your own piece of art.

  The IEA is also open for new Artist Memberships. If you are an Equine Artist or love creating the horse in art, take a look at the site and see if this group is right for you.

Thank you,

Debbie Flood, Founder & Administrator IEA
http://www.debfloodart.com
debflood@debfloodart.com