Sheila M. Evans

When an artist spends as much time online as I do, they tend to accumulate a lot of unsolicited offers. Apply to this show, pay for space on that online gallery, get great deals on framing, have your art reproduced by our company! Most of these emails (many of which are scams) are quickly “filed” and forgotten. But not always.

A few months ago I received an email in near-perfect English from someone claiming to be a representative of a French art magazine. She had seen my art online and wanted the option of posting my artwork in the “Portfolio” section of their website. At least, that was my understanding. I was given a deadline to send hi-res images to be considered for publication.

Requests for hi-res art images out of the blue can be a little unnerving. Is it legit, or is someone planning to send my artwork to be knocked off in China? Why hi-res if the images are being posted on the website? This looked real enough, with a link to the French art magazine Pratique des Arts. Of course it’s not hard to link to something in an email—it proves nothing.

I pretty much forgot about it until the submission deadline, when another email asked if I was still interested. I decided to take a chance; I sent  the images. And heard nothing. A few months went by and I forgot about it again until some random Tuesday brought a fleeting thought of the French art website. Oddly, that afternoon I received one more email, asking where to send a contributor’s copy. Now I was really confused. I thought the images were to be posted in some minor online supplement. Whatever. I forgot about it again.

Arriving home from the Bellevue show yesterday, I opened the mailbox to find a large envelope from France containing an absolutely gorgeous art magazine, unreadable to me but stunning, with amazing pastel work from a collection of international artists. There were Dewfall and Medusa No.2, representing the U.S. on the first two pages of the “Pastellistes du Monde” section. Turning the page I found a pastel by the amazing Sally Strand. Elsewhere a spread on the celebrated Alan Flattman. Here was my work in the company of these incredible artists and an apparent international who’s who of pastel. What a thrill! All for something I very nearly didn’t do. Maybe a little trust isn’t so bad once in a while.

The Bellevue Artsfair starts this Friday and I couldn’t be happier. It’s been a long break between shows for summer, so I’m anxious to get back. And Bellevue is one of the best!

This year I’m thrilled to be showing my oil paintings along with my pastels for the first time in Bellevue. And I will have a lot of them after I take down the Metamorphosis show from the Kress Gallery on Wednesday. Show weeks are always busy, but this is especially crazy… after spending today framing and delivering my Alice in Wonderland piece to the Tinman Gallery, I have to take down shows at Pacific Garden Design tomorrow and the Kress on Wednesday before loading the car for the show. Plus the usual million little pre-show details like price tags and artwork lists. And covering my entire studio in plastic so my upstairs neighbor can sand his floors.

SO. Anyway. If you’re in the Seattle/Bellevue area this Friday-Saturday-Sunday, come by the Artsfair! It’s an amazing show and I will have more new and different work than ever before. The details:

Bellevue Arts Museum ArtsFair
When: July 23 – 25, 2010
Where: Bellevue Square parking garage, 510 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA
Hours: Friday – Saturday, 9:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m., Sunday 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.
What I’m bringing: Pastels and Oils
Booth # J-08

And now for something else completely different… an Alice-in-Wonderland-inspired piece titled Why Not? which I’ve just completed for the Tinman Gallery‘s second annual Oz-vitational. Huh? Well, Year One was an Oz-vitational. This year all of the artwork will be inspired by the childrens’ classic, Alice in Wonderland. (Much to the relief of the artists who participated in Year One, I’m sure. Fresh inspiration!)

I’m embarrassed to admit that I had never read Alice in Wonderland nor even seen a movie version until receiving this assignment. I tried both several times as a child and never quite made it through for one reason or another. Luckily for me, a fresh movie came out on DVD just in time for my research. Better still, this particular movie had a CGI Tweedledum and Tweeedledee played by/modeled after the hilarious Matt Lucas, from the seriously funny Little Britain USA.

Anyway, back to my point if I had one. I did stop laughing just long enough to catch an approximately four-second reference to Alice and the Red Queen painting white roses red, and there was my idea. Roses dripping with shiny red paint, forming the shape of the Red Queen’s heart surrounded by white roses yet to be painted. This piece and “Alice” works by many wonderful artists will be available for purchase at the show.

The Alice in Wonderland Invitational runs from July 30 through August 21. Opening reception is from 5 – 9 p.m. Friday, August 30.

The Tinman Gallery is located in Spokane’s historic Garland District at 811 West Garland Avenue.

Warning: this post has nothing whatsoever to do with art!

In honor of my ASPCA donation pledge, I’ve decided to share some of my favorite vegetarian and vegan recipes here on my website. As a vegetarian married to an omnivore, I have to come up with some pretty satisfying vegetarian food. At least we think so. I hope you’ll agree if you decide to try some of the recipes. I’ve added my own Mushroom Marsala Linguine today, and will continue to add new recipes sporadically because that’s how I roll.

Enjoy!

Nothing fancy to report here—just spending some time in my studio actually PAINTING! This week I finished six new Teacup Oils to (almost) replace the ones I sold at Artfest. I have promised myself that this will be the last batch this year! Once they’re gone, they’re gone, until next season. Then, it was over to the pastel side to paint Springdance (left). This piece was actually inspired by one of the Teacup oils. I came up with the idea for it and liked the sketch so much I tried a variation in a small pastel, then went on to make the little cubular oil piece, then worked the small pastel idea into a large piece. Whew!

Next week I plan to revisit my Raintree sketches in oil. I’m curious to see how they will turn out. The little pastel sketches reminded me of a combination of a 1940s barkcloth print and my older bunchgrass pieces–which I’ve never painted in oil. Here’s looking forward to next week and a new challenge!

Despite more than the normal amount of the Traditional Artfest Rain, Artfest was a great weekend. Friday (the rainiest day) gave artists a chance to catch up with one another. At length. But Saturday and Sunday brought sun and crowds! Thanks to all my customers and friends who support my art habit. Also a big thanks to the Artfest jurors, who honored me with the Tinman Gallery 2-D Merit Award. So nice to know I will be returning to a show that is clearly on the upswing. Which brings me to my last big thank you, again to the jurors, who picked a high-quality, even show.

But, Artfest is over and it’s great to get back to the studio! I’ve missed it lately, since some soundproofing has been going on with the ceiling and everything has been piled up under plastic sheets. But with almost two months until my next show, it was time to put the construction on hold and make the studio back into a studio again.

Art fair season can really mess with creative energy, as getting outside and fiddling with the booth plays perfectly into spring fever. On the flip side, getting to the shows and actually selling some art is the best motivator I know to go paint. This week I played with an idea I’ve had for a while now, resulting in the two “Raintree” pastels pictured above. They will serve as studies for oil paintings which will, hopefully, be ready in time for Sun Valley.

And, the idea of stopping at twenty-four Teacup Oils is out the window. The Teacup Oils have been to exactly one show and I am already down NINE! So six more mini-canvases are stretched, gessoed and waiting for paint and tea-licious titles. Barely back in the studio and there’s more on my plate than I can probably finish before Bellevue. All or nothing… that’s the art life.

p.s. Many of the paintings from my booth at Artfest plus a few more are on display at Pacific Garden Design through mid-July. PGD is open to the public, but if you plan to go, give them a call first to be sure someone is there! It’s a beautiful space with amazing pots for sale (and garden design, of course).

Artfest is upon us! Opening this Friday at noon, it runs through Sunday. I’ll be there as usual (still don’t know what booth!) with new pastels and oil paintings, including my new Teacup Oils – little 6″ x 6″ x 2″ canvases painted on five sides and named after delicious tea flavors both real and imaginary. (Pomegranate Twist, Chamomile Bliss and Guava Mint are shown above)

Something new: this year I will be donating 1% of art festival sales to the ASPCA. I’m calling it my ASPCA Summer of Love. I get asked for a lot of donations every summer from various arts organizations, many of which I know nothing about. This year I decided to choose where my donations went. Since I love animals enough not to eat or wear them, the ASPCA seemed like a good place to start. More on this later.

In the meantime, come to Artfest, enjoy the day, and support the arts by buying real art from real artists!

Artfest

When: June 4 – 6, 2010

Where: Coeur d’Alene Park, 2nd & Chestnut, Spokane, WA

Hours: Friday 12 p.m. – 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.