Salon International 2011

I'm sorry for the late Blog post. I just returned from the Salon International sponsored by the Greenhouse Gallery in San Antonio, Texas. There were over 400 paintings selected for this show from a total of more than 1200 submissions. The work was incredible. My thought was, I need to get with it. I love being associated with such quality. I find it really pushes me to absolutely strive for the very best I can do.

Best of Show

Don Williams - "Guard Rail" - 28"x 21" - Oil

Mark Smith, Jim Janes - Co-owners of the Greenhouse Gallery of Fine Art

Daniel Greene - Show Juror, critiques paintings for some of the artists on Saturday morning following the Friday night awards ceremony.

I was fortunate to be seated right beside Daniel Greene at the Friday night banquet. He is an artist of amazing credentials. Undoubtedly a teacher, one only needs to listen to a couple of his painting critiques to learn this truth. During his teaching career he has taught over 10000 students...incredible! I also found it interesting that he and his wife, Wende Caporale, also a very accomplished artist, have totally separate studios. "Do you ever critique each others work?", I asked. "I critique her work", he said. "I never have her critique mine because I don't take criticism too well." Now, that's an honest answer.

A full house of banquet guests enjoyed a nice meal on Friday night during the Awards Banquet held in the gallery.

Here I am with one of two paintings I had in the show.

This one is called, "Cornish Promontory".

On Saturday morning, Daniel Greene went through the show, and for a fee, offered a personal painting critique to any artist brave enough to have the flaws in their painting exposed to all those in attendance.

Mr. Greene is an absolute stickler for sound, solid drawing. He does not tolerate anything less. He also continually stressed the importance of a nicely designed value structure and thoughtfully executed edges. These four points were constantly emphasized: concept, drawing, value, and edges. Choosing a frame consistent with the artist's concept was also stressed. There were several paintings mentioned during the critique that had a lot of stuff going on in them...very busy. That was not the problem, but in each case the artist had chosen a frame that was also very busy, so it gave the viewer no rest.

Finally, I was surprised how many times Greene critiqued the size and placement of the artist's signature...just further evidence of how he considered every single part of a painting, from start to finish, as very important and worth the artist's uppermost attention.

Jack Richeson $ Co., Inc. Award

Gavin Glakas - "Dusk" - 21"x 21" - Oil

Merit Award (Landscape)

Cecy Turner - "Palo Duro Overlook" - 20"x 30" - Oil

I was pleased to see my friend, Cecy Turner, win such a prestigious award.

Here's my new friend, Cuong Nguyen, with his painting. He is from Vietnam, now living in California. He absolutely loves being in America. He came here with nothing and is now an award winning artist.

Southwest Art Magazine Award

Cuong Nguyen - "Michael" - 30"x 24" - Oil

Merit Award (Figurative/Narrative)

Clement Kwan - "Square Dancing" - 24"x 20" - Oil

There were so many paintings in the show worthy of awards. It was just incredible to see the quality of the work. When I learned Daniel Greene made all this selections in just a few hours, I couldn't believe it. I would have found this job almost impossible...selecting a handful of paintings from a total of 415 works in such a short time...Wow!

Several times during the announcement of awards on Friday night, Mr. Greene said he would have been happy to have painted this or that painting. I do think a lot of his selections were compatible with subjects he would personally paint...but hey, he was the judge...and deservedly so.