Since I last wrote, a lot has happened, one of which is my foray into abstract art, namely abstractions from my photography. I didn't plan it. I didn't intend it. I would even have said I wasn't interested in it. It began in the fall with a software app found on the Apple store polished with Adobe photo suite apps. I began transforming my photographs and photographs of paintings, both mine (mere beginnings) and an artist by the name of Leonid Afremov (with estate permission), into what is now my Colorful Geometric Abstractions (I know! Original, right?). I was just messing around, not seeing them as abstracts or anything that would be valuable in any way.
However, in December, I began winning with those and other abstracts, the highlights being,
- December--Best in Show, Colorful Geometric Abstraction "Color Choreography," All Color, Contemporary Art Gallery Online
- December--Best in Show, Colorful Geometric Abstraction "Cosmos," All Colorful Abstraction, Fusion Art
- January--Solo Spotlight Exhibit (March), Colorful Geometric Abstractions, Light, Space & Time
- April--Virtual Exhibit (June), Candid Covid Expression "Contemplation," Spring: Discovery, OSCA
- May--1st Place, Roundup "Refuge," Delta them, 12th Annual Newport Delta Festival
- June--Virtual and Live Exhibit at The Invisible Dog Art Center (July), Candid Covid Expression "Contemplation" and "Kaleidoscope 1," Nature/Nurture, See.Me Gallery
- June--(just now!) Best in Show, Candid Covid Expression "Cosmos," All Abstraction, Contemporary Art Gallery Online
It appears as if I am boasting. Perhaps I am but it is in awe, because though I have placed well with other works, strangely enough, what started off as a pastime has turned into my winning works. In fact those December BISs were my first ever BIS in any visual art.
You just never know where a little interest, motivation, and experimentation will lead--perhaps to your best work and perhaps to an art form you never realized was in you. Be willing to experiment even beyond your comfort zone and be willing to put yourself out there beyond your comfort zone.
Yes, that has meant my enduring what some may deem failures, but Lisa Golightly wrote, “There is no ‘right’ way to make art. The only wrong way is in not trying, not doing. Don’t put barriers that aren’t there—just get to work and make something.” I didn't have to even enter a competition to do that.