“View From George Rogers Park” 40″ x 60″ watercolor
I recently had my own theme show of autumn landscapes, which wasn’t too much of a challenge since I paint a lot of fall foliage in much of my work, but occasionally I’m invited to participate in a show where the theme is set by someone else. That is where the challenge comes in.
Part of the difficulty is having to switch directions from where my work is going at the moment. Timing is also a problem. From the time I’m invited until the actual show can be several months, but usually the image of the work has to be sent much earlier for advertising purposes.
On the positive side, someone else’s theme can get me headed in a new direction that can be stimulating and exciting. Many years ago the gallery I was in at the time asked their artists to create a work based on the sun. I did a lot of research of sun symbols for many cultures and learned a lot before creating an abstract painting based on a Japanese myth.
The watercolor above was painted for a Lake Oswego, Oregon theme for their annual show. Artists were invited to create a work based on the history, area or anything that pertained to the city. I was invited in January and the show was to take place in June, but the deadline was months earlier.
I wanted to paint more of a spring/summer landscape of the area, but in January most of the trees were bare and I had to go with what was there. It forced me to paint a totally different type of landscape than I normally paint, but it ended up being a fun challenge to be part of a show that was quite diverse in artist interpretations.
