My Three Entries

WFMartin

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Each year I enter several art competitions in our area. This year my most important one was called off because of Covid, but one of the other ones is asking for entries. This year I plan to enter the following 3 oil paintings.

Each of them is 16" x 20", oil on RayMar Canvas Panel.


Mysterious_Path_Final.jpg

"Mysterious Path"

Road_Warrior_Final.jpg

"Road Warrior"

What_Lies_Ahead_Final.jpg

"What Lies Ahead"

Hope I've made an appropriate choice for my entries. This show is called, "Celebration of Artists", and takes place at the West Valley Art Museum, in Peoria, Arizona. I managed to have received a "Best of Show" twice at that show, in years past.

I have used a lot of paint from The Art Treehouse for these paintings, as well as their Water-washed Linseed Oil, Water-washed Walnut Oil, Canada Balsam, and Oil of Spike Lavender. They also sell my own special medium, under my name, that contains those ingredients that I mentioned.
 
If these three were in competition with each other, it would be a deadlock. Each has something to recommend it, while being incomparable.

That owl reminds me of the time I disturbed a sparrowhawk on a kill. I turned a corner and it sprang in my face like your owl! I couldn't get the image out of my head. Like talons.
 
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I agree with Iain in that I wouldn't know which to choose with these since they are all so incredibly stellar. Really amazing Bill. Good luck, though you won't need it.
 
I really like Mysterious Path. Not that there's anything wrong with the other 2 but I really like the feel of that one.

Good luck in the competition.
 
Yes, great trip. I’d go along with 16ga. There’s something extra well done in that Mysterious path.
 
3 masterpieces among which it is impossible for me to choose a favorite, how wonderful
 
Gee, thanks, everyone! I feel a bit more confident about those entries now that you good artists seem to like them.
 
Bill, To be honest, the first and third are winners. The owl diminishes. I would chose a different for the third.
 
Bill, To be honest, the first and third are winners. The owl diminishes. I would chose a different for the third.
Not to be controversial because I think they're all worthy of showing. Nevertheless, I think the owl is unique and the style is refreshing. Of course, that's just a personal choice. When I've walked around galleries and viewed hundreds of landscapes with the same shadow and light, same old same. I then come across a painting like Bill's owl and it's a breath of fresh air.
 
I especially like the mood and sense of mystery of the first painting, Bill. I like the third very much as well... except for the kids. I would probably downplay that red shirt and lose them a little bit into the shadows as you did with the first painting. I think the brighter colors in the areas of light moving down the road and the white on the barn in the distance and the brilliant yellow-green already lead me down the path visually where I will encounter the kids. The light trees on the right (birch?) already lead me back so that I continue to move around the painting. But what do I know? Great work!
 
Not to be controversial because I think they're all worthy of showing. Nevertheless, I think the owl is unique and the style is refreshing....Not to be controversial because I think they're all worthy of showing. Nevertheless, I think the owl is unique and the style is refreshing.
Th
Not to be controversial because I think they're all worthy of showing. Nevertheless, I think the owl is unique and the style is refreshing. Of course, that's just a personal choice. When I've walked around galleries and viewed hundreds of landscapes with the same shadow and light, same old same. I then come across a painting like Bill's owl and it's a breath of fresh air.
The thing with the owl is that it doesn't fit in with the other two paintings so it looks out of place (because it is) If the other two paintings were birds in flight and the third a moody landscape - then the landscape would be odd man out.
 
I especially like the mood and sense of mystery of the first painting, Bill. I like the third very much as well... except for the kids. I would probably downplay that red shirt and lose them a little bit into the shadows as you did with the first painting. I think the brighter colors in the areas of light moving down the road and the white on the barn in the distance and the brilliant yellow-green already lead me down the path visually where I will encounter the kids. The light trees on the right (birch?) already lead me back so that I continue to move around the painting. But what do I know? Great work!
Wow, I truly appreciate those comments! I think those are valid observations, and I'm taking them to heart. Too late to be modifying this painting at present, but I'm surely gonna' store that concept for the next one. Good ideas!
 
I vote for the owl for variety, unless the show is restricted to pure realistic landscapes; just my 2cnts.
 
Well, all three of these were juried into the show, and I learned of that a couple of days ago. I had sent digital images in, many weeks ago, to be judged, and today, I took them down to the West Valley Art Museum, where the show will be hung. This is not a show in which entries sell, typically, so it would be nice if I received some sort of monetary award.....even a small one.
 
Here's hoping you receive renummeration commensurate to your efforts. It would be criminal otherwise!
 
I'm sure putting your art in front of an audience of any kind will bring some form of monetary reward. Here's wishing you luck!
 
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