Sheila M. Evans

This week has ended on a definite high note. Yesterday, I finished the last of my twelve miniature oil paintings. Today, I got invited to bring them to Sun Valley and Artfest. Nice! Of course I’ll be bringing pastels, too. But at this stage, getting in with oils still feels like an accomplishment.

A confession: I very nearly didn’t send in my application to Sun Valley this year. Last year the show was a little rough for me, to say the least. Economic troubles hit the area hard, and we artists definitely felt it. I vowed to be strong and wait a year before applying again. But months later, after some profitable shows and a long winter, I caved at first sight of a jury deadline notice. Because whatever else it may be, Sun Valley is seriously fun. And I was NOT going to risk missing out on a KB burrito—not deliberately, anyway.

But first, there’s Artfest. Or not, actually. For the first time ever, Artfest—my mellow, ease-me-into-the-season hometown show—is not first on my schedule. By the time Artfest rolls around this year, I’ll have opened my oils exhibit at the Kress Gallery in Spokane, then driven to Illinois and back for Art on the Square. I sure hope I can adjust to all of these gold-plated problems, as my friend Vicky describes them. I’m looking forward to trying. Just a few more “little” projects to get through beforehand. But that’s a story for another day.

(Above: three of the twelve miniature oils, currently untitled. What can I say, I’m busy.)

Things feel a little scattered now… I have the neverending cold and only made it to the studio sporadically this week. I did manage to complete my oil version of Springrise (above), which felt pretty good under the circumstances. It was one of those paintings that just falls off the fingers, then in what should have been the last few minutes I went too far with part of it and had to wipe it down and start over—twice. I was afraid I wouldn’t finish at all today which was pretty annoying considering I expected to walk in, dab at it a few times and walk away victorious. I just kept thinking of John Singer Sargent as I wiped at it with my Gamsol-soaked rag… he is reputed to have wiped down parts of his amazing paintings multiple times to keep that “fresh” look to his brushstrokes. It’s scary, but it works. I ended up somewhat happier in the end. Sargent, on the other hand, ended up with Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose. Onward.

And now for something completely different…

It’s not really news per se, but I just got my acceptance email for Art in the High Desert. After last year’s Benchmark Award, I knew I would be in the show, but I have to say it’s still exciting to get that “Congratulations!” email. Especially if you are a Big Dork. But I’m not naming names.

More on the subject of Big Dorks…

I’m loving my studio right now. It is packed with fresh art, just like it usually is this time of year. I think it’s more noticeable this time, perhaps, because unlike my previous studio, it started out big and empty. A 10′ x 11′ room can only look so empty with two shelving units, a desk, a table, a taboret, two easels, two air purifiers, photographic light stands, a roll of canvas, a chair, a few rugs and various and sundry leftover drawings. But 675 square feet can swallow up all that plus that much more again and still seem cavernous. Which is why I was hit with a little teeny tiny bit of dread recently… soon there will be festivals and shows to hang and all the paintings will be gone and it will be empty again. Which is always just a little bit sad.

For photos of the studio as it looked last week, Read more

Between the Pastel 100 coming out and my acceptance to Art on the Square, I thought I probably had better get my butt over to the pastel side of the studio for a bit. I’d been having too much fun painting in oils, and was getting into a pretty nice groove there. But no matter how many hundred pastels I might have on hand, the first early shows going onto my schedule always seem to induce unnecessary and unreasonable panic.

So I rolled with it and made a few small pastel pieces first, then Villafranca, left, which I named after an obscure species of lemon. The piece looked… well… lemony, and sort of Mediterranean, and the name seemed to capture both aspects. I wasn’t even through with it before I was back on the oil side, though—seized with panic yet again as I realized I may have oil shows while most of my oil work is hanging in the Kress gallery.

The drama never ceases.

More good news! I’ve added a new show for 2010: Art on the Square in Belleville, Illinois. This show has been ranked #1 in the country by the Art Fair Sourcebook (the art fair artists’ version of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy). It’s going to be a long trip, but I am so excited to do my first-ever midwest show. By the way, I only got juried in with pastels. The competition to get into this tiny but excellent show is tough!

I am so happy right now! I just learned that I have been juried in to the Bellevue Arts Museum show again. This year, not only did I get in with my pastels, I get to show my oil paintings! This is a first for me in Bellevue, one of my very favorite shows to do. To celebrate, I’ve decided it’s time to fire up the Art Fairs 2010 page. Then I think I’d better get some painting done.

(Left: Frost Line, one of my newest oils. See it at the Kress Gallery in May.)

Yes, in spite of all the shows and demos and moving and whatnot, I have actually been painting. While Etudes for the Equinox has a few weeks left at the Tinman, I have to be thinking of the next show (Metamorphosis at the Kress Gallery). Metamorphosis is an oils-only show for which I have most of the large work finished, but there are a few odd little spaces in the gallery to consider. With that in mind, I created my two latest little cocktails, Gimlet and Limoncello No.2, above. Perhaps I’ll complete the set with a French 75…

Etudes for the Equinox, my all-pastel exhibit at the Tinman Gallery in Spokane, runs through February 27th.

The Tinman Gallery
811 West Garland Avenue
Spokane, Washington 99205
509.325.1500
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday

If you’re an art lover in Spokane, you probably already know it’s Works from the Heart season again!

The Northwest Museum of Art and Culture’s 25th Works from the Heart Auction will be held next Saturday, February 20th. Happily the auction has moved back to the MAC this year, and will offer a carefully selected group of artworks from the area’s best known and loved artists, and me. Proceeds are shared between the Museum’s art education and acquisition funds (and many of the donating artists). I hope you can make it to this fun and exciting event, and bid on my pastel, Coral Reef No.4 !

Here are the essentials:

Works from the Heart Auction
Saturday, February 20^th
Location: Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture
2316 W. 1^st Avenue, Spokane, WA

Pre-auction events begin at 4 p.m.
Live auction at 6:45 p.m.

Tickets $75 by advance reservation only.
Call today! 509-456-3931