Sad day for me.

I got my postcard from Festival of the Arts today. All four of my entries were not accepted. I thought for sure, at least one would get accepted. Oh well, life goes on right? I guess my submissions just weren’t what the judges were looking for. These are the four I entered.

Echinacea Dark Dreams – 20×30 print matted to a 24×36 frame

Ephemeral Partings – 20×20 canvas print

Pale Perception L – 12×24 print, gatorboard mounted, framed, no mat

Death of a Light Bulb – 12×20 print, framed, no mat

I know, when I dropped off the work, there was some confusion about where to place these pieces. What media to claim them as. I had written Photography for all but Pale Perception L, I just listed that as digital. One person wanted to put them all in with the photography. I know they placed the 3 as photography, but I never found out where Pale Perception went. I did tell them there was no form of photography involved in that image.  I didn’t see any of the other entries, so I don’t know if there is a lot of photomanipulation, or if my images are too edited for this competition.  This thought process got me thinking, there really aren’t a lot of art competitions that favor digital art.  My abstracts are all digital, and I know they aren’t bad because I have sold quite a few, but where do they fit in in today’s art world? I need to find someplace, or a competition for strictly digital works. Maybe I should start my own

Getting my rejection letter today really depressed me, but then I reminded myself of the sales of my work. If I wasn’t a very good artist, then I would not have sold anything. This being the first time I have actually put myself out there, in the ‘real world’ as  an artist, just made it that much worse. But, I have to remind myself, I just didn’t suite these particular judges tastes.  Maybe next time, if I decide to try again.

Themed Feature: High Key “Objects” Challenge

The lastest and greatest High Key group’s challenge was Objects. I figured, since we’ve done animals, children’s portraits, and flowers, objects was the next best subject matter. It is quite fascinating to see what people will photograph with a broad subject matter, such as objects. So on to the top 10!

Listed from 1st place to 10th place. If you would like to see all the entries, click here.

Pegs by Barbara Corvino

Ballet Shoes by Francesca Rizzo

Game by Nathalie Chaput

37*c by Ingz

Tiny Toes by Sarah Pett-Noble

Secured by Jim DeMore

Death of a Light Bulb by Karri Klawiter

Perfectly Orange by Jen Cannella

Marbles by LisaR

Candy Cane Heart by Tamara Brandy

Don’t forget to check out these great artist’s other work!!

I can’t cut a mat!

If you recall, I mentioned before that I recently ordered a bunch of prints to get ready for some shows/competitions.

I have been trying to get everything put together. Frames, backing, mats, etc. The first thing I am entering is Festival of the Arts here in Grand Rapids, Mi. Entries are due this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. This is my very first juried competition, and I’m SO nervous! I don’t really care about winning anything, I just want to get accepted. I have four pieces picked out to enter. Although, I am still questioning one of them. I’ve got my frames and everything I need to put them together, but I can’t seem to cut that mats!  I really only have one I need to do. It is a double mat for a 20×30 image, matted to a 24×36 frame. I went out last week and purchased the mat board and a hand held Logan Mat Cutter 2000. I can’t cut a straight line if my life depened on it. So my first try on the first mat was awful!  Just cutting the mat board to the 24×36 square turned out bad. I was trying to do it, on the floor, with a 24 in framing square for a straight edge. HA! The inside cut ended up slightly crooked and jagged because I had to stop, move the ruler, and start again. Or the stupid mat cutter would slide under the ruler. Not  good. So the top mat ended up being pretty much useless. The bottom mat wasn’t too bad after getting the hang of it a little better, but I over shot (yes, even with the little line guide) the corners, and it’s really obvious looking at the front. So there went the second mat.

I went back to the store Saturday and bought 2 new mat boards. My husband asked me to wait for him before I try cutting them again. Well today we got around to attempting it again. LOL He had just as many problems as I did, only opposite issues. I couldn’t cut the straight line, even with a ruler to guide, but he could even without one. (by the way, he pulled out a longer ruler, moved the mats up onto a table and used clamps to hold it in place, ‘duh! I should have thought of that in the first place!) My cuts were crooked, but they were smooth. His kept getting frayed. I should have just paid someone else to do it!

I was able to get the second bottom mat, and so far I don’t see any obvious flaws. I really don’t want to go back to the store and buy a 3rd top mat. So my choices are to either figure out a way to fix one of the 2 that got messed up, figure out some creative way to cover up the mess ups, or go without the top mat. I really don’t want to go without it, but that’s looking like my best option. We were discussing, purposesly fraying or ‘roughing up’ one of the ones we screwed up, to give it an aged look since the image was done as an aged image. But I am not sure how to go about doing that, and keeping it looking nice. Any suggestions? 

Anyone out there know how to fix/prevent the frayed edge problem?

New Work :)

It must be the weather. We’ve finally gotten out of the dreary Michigan winter, and spring must bring forth some creative juices. I have a couple new pieces to share! Yay!  So here they are:

Preconcieved Illusion (the last one if you can’t read the title) has become an instant fav of mine.

All of my work can be puchased as premium art cards, and most are available as matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints, canvas prints, framed prints, and posters. All in varying sizes. To see more work and/or purchase click here. (or click on a particular image)

And don’t forget to check out other great products featuring these images at Karri’s Zazzle Store!