Sheila M. Evans

The Bellevue Arts Museum Artsfair is this weekend! Bellevue is the only show this year where I will not have oils, so I have saved some of my best new pastels for the occasion. Dancing Half Moon, left, is one of the pastels which will make its premier appearance in Bellevue. This is always one of my best shows, so I am very excited to return. Just a bit more packing to do and we will be ready to head out in the morning!

Bellevue Arts Museum ArtsFair

When: July 24 – 26, 2009

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

Booth #J-8 (Straight west from the Information Booth, in the parking garage)

After a very enjoyable week in the studio, it is time to face the prospect of seven weeks with no studio time at all. Art Fair Season is now upon me.

With that in mind, I’ve tried to get the most out of the last few weeks at home. As I mentioned previously, I’ve lined up some gallery shows for next year. So over this last week I made a large painting specifically for my oils show (to make me feel like I’ve gotten a head start, I suppose). Lacewing (detail, above) is the result of my efforts. Not a very good photo, I’m afraid—I took it in the studio with absolutely the wrong lighting and lots of glare. As a bonus, my studio is so small I can’t actually get far enough away from the painting to photograph the whole thing. Thus the detail shot. But, considering the quality of the photo, that’s probably for the best.

And that will undoubtedly be my last new painting post for a while. It’s time to head to the basement and reprise my role as Framing Troll in preparation for the next several weeks. Beginning with the Bellevue Arts Museum Arts Fair next weekend, I will have an art fair every weekend save one until after Labor Day (and Sausalito). For the complete schedule click here.

I’m very excited to get out there and do my shows, but I’m pretty sure the magnitude of the travel schedule hasn’t quite hit me yet. Not to worry, it will soon enough.

As promised, I spent this past week on the oil side of my studio creating my latest painting, the final version of Serenity. As always I was afraid that I would have forgotten how to paint in oils, and as (almost) always I found it completely enjoyable and needn’t have worried. I was particularly glad to have chosen last week to get back to that easel, because I also spent some time last week lining up multiple gallery shows here in Spokane. 

So far I have two solo exhibits scheduled, both opening in the first half of next year. The first, at Tinman Gallery in north Spokane’s charming Garland district, is set for February 2010. It is an honor to be featured there, as the Tinman represents some of the region’s most respected artists.

Then in May, I will be back at the Kress gallery downtown, this time with my first oil-paintings-only show. The Kress is a big space. It eats oversized paintings for breakfast. Thus my relief at not having forgotten how to paint—I will need to do it a lot between now and then.

Lining up shows is thrilling and nerve-wracking and just another part of the daily grind, all at once. It is what I do, after all, but it never loses its excitement. I can go from thinking I have too many paintings to thinking I have far too few in the time it takes a gallery owner to say, “let’s put it on the schedule!” But there is no better motivator to do more and better than the prospect of a solo show. That looming deadline brings butterflies and peace of mind in equal parts, and I absolutely love it.