I think the appropriate words are..."Woo Hoo!" I got a 3rd place, a 4th place and an Honorable Mention for my three paintings at tonight's opening of the STEMS Plein Air show! What a wonderful surprise and a great way to end the week! Above is the 3rd place piece "Evening at the Farmstead". Pretty dang exciting for the first time I've ever entered one of these contests...kind of makes me want to try this again!
The 4th place winner was "Big Yellow Tractor", and the Honorable Mention was "Tractor and Thresher". And that's not all...the Farmstead and Yellow Tractor paintings were both SOLD when I got to the opening! I'm not sure if there are cash prizes awarded...I honestly don't care. It was just good for me to get back out there and paint.You can see where my stuff was placed at the exhibit. I'm sure at some point, the STEMS website will post the winners later, so you can get a good look. You can jump over there with this link... www.stemspleinair.com
My good friend and co-worker, Larry DeGraff, was out there painting, too. He had 3 Honorable Mentions in the show. It was fun to compare notes with him of our painting adventures. You can see some of Larry's fine paintings on his blog.
I just want to thank my sweet wife, Cat, for this whole experience. I wouldn't be painting at all right now, if it weren't for her encouragement a few years back. I wanted to honor her memory by participating in this event...I think she's smiling about now.
I KNOW she is! Wow, Warren what an honor.....they were all three wonderful and I'm so proud. You look good in the photo too...nice fresh haircut and great big smile. Obviously there were some good judges! Congratulations to your co-worker. All entries getting recognition is very telling! Ah, how nice to know talented folks. mom
ReplyDeleteWell, it is nice to know I have good taste! You entered my two favorites! I have been watching your blog waiting for you to tell us which three you entered, I was about to run out of patience. Debra
ReplyDeleteYIPEEE DAD! So cool! Im glad you did it, plus it is a little reminder at how talented you are! Love you!~ the eldest
ReplyDeleteI KNEW that farm house was a winner. The color palate.
ReplyDeleteThank you all! I'm still grinning today...didn't expect any of the positive results...just was fun to be a part of it. I really appreciated the feedback from everyone!
ReplyDeleteI think this event may keep growing into something bigger. Last year they had about 40 artists...this year over 100. Here's part of an email I got from STEMS last night:
"We haven’t even made it to the main event and have already surpassed last year’s sales! We are so excited to be able to help The Overland Park Arboretum, Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead and the arts in Overland Park through the Overland Park Arts and Recreation Foundation."
AWESOME!!!! YOU DESERVE ALL THE CREDIT FOR YOUR TALENT AND THE DESIRE TO HONOR CATHY'S WISHES!!! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU AND ALL YOU DO!!!
ReplyDeleteKEEP ON THE ROLL OF GOOD BLESSINGS...HUGS, LIN
So Proud! Smiles are everywhere and you earned them.:) love, Susie
ReplyDeleteOver 100 entries and you won all those ribbons!
ReplyDeleteI knew you were very talented.
Congratulations and I can see my friend Dee is so proud of you.
Terry
I knew you were going to win! I told Dede you were! You both amaze me...as my mom used to say when I was growing up, "I couldn't draw a fly if I was covered with honey." Congratulations on your talent and your entering this competition. (another anonymous, maybe the only one from Greenville, MS)! Love you!
ReplyDeleteFrom your left-brained cousin-in- law who can only stare in awe at such natural artistic talent, a double Woo-Hoo! Smiling she is...as are we all. Don't stop, Warren! Cheri
ReplyDeleteWarren,
ReplyDeleteIt looks like those art lessons at Murmil and the SA Fine Arts Center are finally paying off!
I'm very proud of you and glad to see you pushing forward. We've been thinking about you a lot and it's nice to see the sense of joy found in your art.
God bless you, brother.
Barry
A late congratulations on placing are in order!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to finally see the scale of the paintings as well!
Well done.