Paintings are in the judges hands...

Okay, I said I wouldn't write til the judging - which is this Saturday morning - but I have to write about turning IN the works to the judges. Since artists have been turning in their works for about twenty some odd hours now, there's a lot to look at while waiting to 'drop off' your artwork. Amazing stuff - all from amateurs like me. But some of this stuff is just jaw dropping good. You can tell what art masters their influences are from - and some are big HUGE fans of Thomas Kinkade (not my kind of stuff although you have to hand it to the man for his treatment of light).
I'm kind of a snob in that area - I don't like Kinkade's stuff - and I've seen the real things too. Just not my style. I'm not that precise and neat when I paint. Colour is my centerpiece in all my paintings.
My art prof. - I call him the Maestro (he'd laugh if he heard that one!) told me during my first painting (which took a month!!) that I can draw very well, so I CAN paint. I said that wasn't what I was going for with it. He replied that very good use and placement of color can hide the most grievous of painting sins and even make a painter- and that I was blessed with that already. Then he would harass me with my first paintings saying 'look, if I wanted a photo of the still life, I would have taken one - do it in YOUR style'.
I am still digging for my style but I know what it looks like in my head. I can almost taste it. I just can't do it all the time. Sometimes I can, and then I'm exhausted, happy and sad that it's over. Then I start the next empty canvas with new and inspired ideas - sometimes they work and sometimes, well - like the third painting that I was to turn into the judges for this event - didn't turn out at all. That's why they make Gesso!
So, anyhow, back to the paintings I saw with the judges. Beautiful - from all ages of painters - all different backgrounds, all different visions. I can't wait to see the showing of all this art. It will inspire me for sure - and maybe it will inspire me to re-invent the poor lost painting that didn't make my cut for the judges for 2005's round.