Well some doors just get slammed in your face and this morning that did happen to me (see below). But I always firmly believe that doors shut and others open, so I always try to make the best of whatever comes my way, whether good or bad.
The good news is that I managed to complete a commission which I had to carry over from last year due to my taking a sabbatical year during 2017, and was so grateful and pleased that the commissioner likes it—which does wonders for painting morale!
This is the painting:
1602 Lancaster Bomber Flying over Ely Cathedral Picture Profile
The bad news is as follows (although not all bad, as now I have two extra artworks for sale that otherwise would have been tied up for another six months). But I do send my best wishes to ABBA for a successful exhibition in May 2018 and my congratulations to all those botanical artists who made it through.
“On 18 Dec 2017, at 07:03, britbotart 2018 <britbotart@gmail.com> wrote:
My Bluebell Painting View Picture Profile
NFS: 1703 Fairy Flower and Brimstone (English Native Bluebell) Picture Profile
Dear Tina, Many thanks for submitting painting/s in the first stage of judging for the Botanical Art Worldwide Exhibition. The judges have now completed the first assessment and have made the following decisions. Please appreciate that no further comments can be made and the judge’s decision is final. Your painting Hyacinthoides non-scripta was not successful in reaching the second stage of judging and these are the judges comments: There are some very good areas within this painting but there does need to be more attention to details, particularly in the accurate depiction of bended and twisted leaves, the roots, and the inclusion and execution of an insect. Best wishes
The ABBA Steering Committee
Association of British Botanical Artists
Website: https://www.britishbotanicalartists.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AssociationBritishBotanicalArtists
Botanical Art Worldwide 2018
In Ruskin’s Footsteps – ‘Linking people to plants through botanical art’
And my second painting for this exhibition was killed before it started:
My Stinking Iris painting View Picture Profile
NFS: 1704 Scarlet Berry Iris (Stinking Iris) Picture Profile
This painting did not even go before the jury because I sent in a digital file which I had pieced together for my website and print production because my scanner was not big enough to scan the painting in one go—this was not allowed. I had meant to send a photograph but got my files muddled up and see below for the “naughty-step” email which, even though I had sent my entry in a few weeks before, I only received on the day of entry closing and was out playing golf so did not get back in time to send the unadulterated image before 12 noon:
On 26 Nov 2017, at 21:59, britbotart 2018 <britbotart@gmail.com> wrote:
Hei Tina, I am sorry to say that we cannot include your picture as it stands, in the judging process. As you know we emailed artists about the criteria for digital submissions to the Worldwide Botanical Art Exhibition. Our criteria are similar to those often used in digital submissions where judging is part of the process. That email said that the pictures ‘MUST be representative of your work. The digital images must not be enhanced in any way, or added to digitally’. We also said that images found to be enhanced would be excluded from the judging process. We have carefully checked the digital image of your submission ‘Scarlet-berry Iris’ and find that the picture seems digitally enhanced. The scale bars and the sizing appear to have been added digitally, over what look like the remains of hand-written scale bars and measurements. Your picture appears to be very well done in every other way, but were we to accept a digitally enhanced picture it might be perceived to have an unfair advantage over other submissions. So as I said, I am sorry that we cannot include your image for judging. But, we will meet tomorrow morning as we collate the digital images for the judges. If you can get a new image to us by midday, we will be pleased to have another look at it for you. Best wishes, ABBA Steering group.
Link to previous post on this Exhibition: ABBA Post
Link to first update for this Exhibition: First ABBA Update
…And the sun is shining beautifully today and my sister and brother-in-law are coming to lunch so all is well on the most important fronts!!!! Have a nice day 🙂