Wild Abandon
The Wild Arts Festival will be happening soon, in Portland Oregon, November 17-18, 2018.
Every year, hundreds of artists donate a piece of original art under the theme of birds. Each piece is 6 x 6 square, and sells for $45. The proceeds benefit The Audubon Society of Portland, which provides conservation, environmental education, and wildlife rehabilitation in our area. I signed up to be an artist last year, feeling confident that my skills would be ready for this in a year, and then promptly forgot about it ~ until I received an email informing me I could pick up my canvas…
Could I do it? I didn’t feel that same confidence, and wondered if I should just back out. After several days of angst over the whole thing, I finally just decided to hell with it, I’m gonna do it! And so the challenge was on! I decided to commit to their fundraiser by submitting my own 6 x 6 piece of art.
Next, deciding what to paint. Birds, you say? So many ways to go with that…
It sure can be helpful having a theme to follow, or a prompt from someone else about what to paint. The possibilities of subject matter to paint are often so endless that choosing one thing almost always leads to procrastination on my part. Before landing on the feather quill, I toyed with three prior ideas: an owl perched in a tree on Salmon Creek, a chickadee and poem that I wrote, and a bird’s nest found on vacation. As a fairly new watercolorist, I had some trouble executing the owl and chickadee to my satisfaction, though I liked the bright colors. And the bird’s nest was going so well, I wanted to take more time with it and maybe keep it rather than rush to completion for this show. The quill above felt like it was in the flow, and, I enjoyed painting it. I think that’s what it’s supposed to be about.
I look forward to seeing the beautiful nature-inspired art again this year, and I hope to see you at the festival!
5 Responses to “Wild Abandon”
Good for you for sticking with the committment! Your piece is lovely. I also think that the pastel captures birdie spunkiness beautifully.
Thanks Cindy! I liked the pastel chickadee also, but the artwork I submitted couldn’t be framed, so pastel was not good medium for this.
I love your art submission. Have you taken it to the Audobon Society yet? The colors are so vibrant and the bird captures the momets when I see them at my feeder in the fall. Very well done.
Thanks Kathy!, yes I delivered yesterday at the very last of the deadline.
🙂
Wild Arts Festival Update: My piece Wild Abandon sold!
🙂
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