The Creative Life - Barbara Trovillo

This has been a busy week for me in the studio. A productive week in terms of creating art. I finished the cradled edges of the oil painting created (and sold!) last week and set it aside to dry before shipping. I did a lovely still life of orange zinnia in a blue and white vase. They were the last of the zinnia in my fall garden.  I, also, did some housekeeping chores, i.e. completely cleaned my palette, tidied up and spent some time on the computer doing research for upcoming exhibitions I may want to enter.

The latter chore is what I would like to talk about here. I attended an information gathering zoom meeting held by a small local gallery here in Charlottesville. By the definitions here on Faso (and Boldbrush), I am what they call an Enthusiast/Novice/Student. (No Gallery Representation, Have not won any major awards, etc.) I, actually, have been painting for many years. Unfortunately, I have only been painting full time for the last year or so. Even so, through the years, I have created and sold much work. Professionally, I have a lot of catching up to do! 

This meeting was very informative. They are doing an Open Call for Exhibition Proposals. It's a wonderful small gallery that exhibits the work of artists from all over! They show art that is very diverse in nature, including different mediums, subjects, styles, etc.  The main take away I garnered was the body of work submitted must have a common theme. 

It made me take a hard look at what I have done in the last year. It seems to fall into three categories with a few exceptions: Still life, Landscapes, and Water Life (seabirds, boats, marsh). Thrown in there are a few portraits, and farm scenes with animals. I have not been choosing my subjects deliberately. I have been painting mostly what is around me, being stuck for the most part at home. There is nothing wrong with that, unless you are trying to submit to a show that requires the pieces to fit together. So, now, I have a new goal: create a cohesive body of work.

I realized in my looking that I have three paintings that do qualify. They are still life featuring blue and white ceramic. The color blue in it's many hues has always been my favorite. I was fascinated with blue and white dishes as a girl and have used them all my adult life. I decided to create a body of work including blue and white ceramics in some way. Not edgy, I know. Hopefully, they will be interesting and beautiful. I created a new collection on my website: www.barbaratrovillo.com to begin grouping them together. Check it out! 

Finally, this week, I started a ledger to keep record of shows applied to and pieces entered. This bit of bookkeeping should have been started months ago! I will be notified on 2/26 if a piece of mine is accepted but cannot for the life of me remember to what exhibit I applied! oh boy...... Rome wasn't built in a day, right?

How are you growing in your art practice? I would love to hear from you! Stay well, Barbara

"Step by step and the thing is done." Charles Atlas