Sheila M. Evans

Today I have a new pastel and one-and-a-half bits of good news. I’ll start with the pastel—it’s the simplest part. Horizon Study provided another excuse to work with my dreamy new grays, and I am so happy with the result. I’m loving the moody-summer-sky-after-thunderstorm feel of these new pieces, with the largely neutral color field punctuated by warm bright accents. I decided this image might work well as an oil painting, thus “study” in the title. I hope to tackle that next week while the painting is still fresh in my memory. Such as my memory is.

Now for the one-and-a-half part: I’ve been accepted into the Park City Kimball Arts Festival in Park City , Utah. That is, accepted for pastels (one) but wait listed for oils (a half). It’s funny to me how these things work. I mean, I understand it to a point. There is a specific number of spaces available in each category. To apply in two different categories, you basically have to apply as two different people: two applications, two bodies of work, two booth shots and two jury fees. I understand if one body of work makes the cut and one doesn’t. But it’s kind of funny to me that even though I will already be at the show, I have to wait for someone(s) to drop out of painting before I can display my oils, even though they scored high enough to still be under consideration. But hey, rules are rules. I’ve heard of shows allowing a lesser percentage of wait-listed work to be shown by artists accepted in another category. Seems reasonable to me. I’ll have to wait and see what happens with this show, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I’m excited to see Park City. I’ve never been there, or to Utah for that matter. This was my first time to apply to the show. I know that Park City is the location of the Sundance Film Festival, and that’s about it. Oh, and it’s an hour and a half five hours from Sun Valley, where I will be the following weekend. Which would be super-convenient if I wasn’t planning to drive home between shows. With Bellevue Arts Museum the weekend before Park City, it will be quite the busy time for me—my first time to do shows three weekends in a row. (As I type this I can just hear all the hard-core art-fair-every-weekend career artists laughing at me.) I’ll admit it’s a little unnerving, but at least I get to end with Sun Valley, one of the most fun, enjoyable and relaxing shows out there. Bring it on!