Margaret A. Dillard

Bill and I went to the Opening Reception tonight for Bert’s exhibition at the Gaylord Pickens Museum. It was a wonderful showing. I love the paintings Bert makes. He does capture moods and movement in his artwork. I love all the color! I love the humor he often brings in through his titles. I’ve really learned a lot from Bert over the years. And I’ve truly enjoyed the time spent with him. It’s good to see him still going so strong!

You can really tell a Bert Seabourne painting when you see one. That “style” or “branding” is something I see discussed a lot in articles about the business of art. I’m not sure I’ve fully developed my style yet although I am beginning to see some consistency in my work. I’m still torn between wanting the freedom of Bert’s style and wanting to achieve the control and realism of Carol Armstrong’s work. Maybe I’m just too afraid of “getting it wrong” When you paint something with realism you know whether it’s “right” because it looks like what you intended to paint. With the expressionistic work there is that uncertainty of not knowing exactly what is “right” when to stop or when to go on. I guess I’ll just keep painting and see what comes of it!

It’s been a hot couple of days at the campus of OCCC and looks like today will be hot as well. It will make packing up at 4pm today a little less sad though!

I’ve enjoyed the festival so much again this year! It’s wonderful to connect with old friends and make new ones! There are really a lot of nice people out there!!

I’m so grateful to all the people who braved the heat and crowds to come out and see the show! And thanks to so many who made positive comments about my work, that means a lot to me.

Yesterday I started a new painting. I tried something new Carol Armstrong demonstrated in our last class, painting alla prima with no under drawing. Just jumped in there and started laying in colors/forms and then refining them. I ended last night feeling frustrated and like I was getting everything too muddy

so I wen’t looking for portrait demos this morning before I went back to painting. I found a great one by Ben Lustenhouwer and recommend his blog paintingportraittips.com. I’m grateful there are many artists out there willing to share their experience and knowledge! I got some good ideas for how to proceed on.

Another great blog I found: http://schneiderart.com/blog

I’ve been using my time recovering from gallbladder surgery to do some reading. I’ve found especially helpful information on reddot.blog by Xanadu Gallery Owner Jason Horejs. He gives all kinds of information from how to hang your artwork to how to build a consistant style or “brand” for your artwork and words to use and to avoid when trying to market your work. I think it’s been time well spent. I have an art festival coming up on Labor Day Weekend and will try to put some of his good advice into practice.

Come and see me at Oklahoma Arts Fesival , September 5-7th on the campus of Oklahoma City Community College located at S.W. 89th and May ave.

At long last I’ve begun to create a website for my artwork! I can see I have a lot of work to do yet. Please forgive my sparse content at this early date I will be learning and growing as I go along