Plethora of Cat Heads, other news

I’ve been remiss in updating this blog, so let me get right to it. I’ve got some news and some art to post. First off, more cat heads:

As has been already firmly established, I love painting the cat heads. These particular cat heads were a joy! Lots of fun, very diverse cat “looks.” And I feel I’m just getting started! I’ve got a whole lot more cat head paintings in me! 🙂

On to other news, I am a “featured artist” on Daily Paintworks this month, because the unthinkable happened—I got an award! Me! Who would have guessed?

I got third place for “Quizzical” (original blog post for it here). It came as a great shock. Which is a bit silly—hey, if you enter art contests, you run the risk of actually winning something, don’t you? I should have taken that into account.

I’m being tongue-in-cheek. I’m elated and very honored by the award!

But, I must confess, I’m a little ambivalent about contests and awards. I know I’m not the only artist out there who feels this way.

Awards and shows are a puzzle. We wonder, “How come they got an award, and I didn’t?” “How come they got in the show, and I didn’t?” We know we can’t always get the awards we feel we “deserve.” We don’t like the rejection, but know it’s a part of the process. If we get rejected frequently enough, we figure that it’s just not in the cards, and decide that maybe we should save our application fee money.

But entering shows and applying for awards seems to be a necessary evil. (So the art business gurus tell us.) So we have to keep trying.

Everyone tells us that we shouldn’t take it too seriously when we’re rejected, and they’re right. So many variables go into it. The art show judges may have something else in mind, and your artwork doesn’t fit with that. The judges have biases and prejudices, like we all do. Not everyone can be included, so that means some perfectly wonderful work will be left out. It happens all the time. We all take our “turn” being left out. It’s part of life.

So, my reasoning is, if we shouldn’t take rejection too seriously, then we shouldn’t take acceptance too seriously either. But it’s so hard to do that! Our instincts (and egos) tell us that we got accepted because we’re fabulous! We’re brilliant! The awards prove that, don’t they?

No, I’m afraid of going down that rabbit hole. The awards, when they come, are wonderful, and an honor. But we can’t let them go to our heads, just like we can’t let the rejections get too much to us. We must stay on an even keel. Keep on working to get better, and accept the ups and downs.

With all that said, I am tickled pink by the recent award! 🙂