Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Award of Excellence - Yipppeee Skippeee!


Tonight was the reception for the Utah Watercolor Show. There was a lot of really good paintings there, a total of 110. It was a great evening, what could be better than mixing with dear friends who are also artists!

I was very excited to learn that my painting 'A Hypothetical Question' won an award of Excellence, which is next in line to the Best of Show. Yippeee Skippeeee! Best of Show went to Ian Ramsay. If you look back in my blog to October of last year, I had taken a workshop from him and had posted one of his paintings there. You can see what a truly fine artist he is.


There was a time when I would be blushing three shades of red to tell you about this award, but over the past few years - especially once I joined a gallery - I had to learn to talk about my art and do more than just mumble an embarrassed 'thank you' when someone paid a nice compliment. If you are an artist and want to market your work, you have to learn to talk about your art. I mean, would you have much confidence in an accountant if he shyly said he probably could do a good job on your taxes? No, he would tell you why he is qualified! So once I realized that being an artist was my profession and that I needed to have confidence in my work and talk about it, I don't blush quite so often anymore. I just say Yippeee Skippeee!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Cathy! There's nothing like an award to bring about a feeling of validation. Even when you know you've created an excellent piece, hearing it from someone else (especially a judge)is so great. I admire you for being a watercolorist. It's a quirky medium & not easily mastered. You sure are doing very well with it.
Smiles, Debbie

Catherine Darling said...

Hi Debbie! Thanks so much for your kind comment. I totally agree with you, an award is a great feeling of validation and the ribbon and prize money is not so bad either! :-)

Sheryl Parsons said...

I'm sorry I missed this! Congratulations to you! You work so hard and are very deserving of this!