FAA "Mother's Love" Contest Winners

In honor of Mother's Day I hosted a FAA (Fine Art America) contest showcasing artwork expressing love between mother and baby in the animal world. Here are the winners of that contest.
First Place: 'Giraffe Family' by Xueling Zou.
Second Place: 'Some Bunny Loves You' by Linda Simmon.
The rest of the entries can be viewed here.
Check back next week for the results of the next contest called "Songbird Art" celebrating the sounds of spring time!

Site Update and New Print Service

I've recently updated my website, as some of you may have noticed. I added more menu options to make it easier to navigate, I hope. You can browse by subject, look at just prints, or view only originals for sale. I've also switched my print service from ImageKind to Fine Art America. Not that there was anything wrong with ImageKind's print quality. It was excellent. I've just decided that FAA offers a better preview quality of the artwork, has better community interaction, and an interface that's easier to use for both seller and buyer. The good news for you is that FAA also gives me the opportunity to offer you more size options on some images. If your order a print from FAA I'd love to hear how your purchase experience was. Please let me know. You can leave a comment here or email me at ForestStudios@Yahoo.com.

A New Start

It's been a while since I posted last. A lot has been going on. During the winter we bought a new house, sold our other one, and I've been busy with all that goes with that, moving, and getting settled in the new place. I was also busy at work and was working longer hours. Not much time for painting in the last several months. But that all changed on April 2. The company I was working for shut down. Everyone was laid off, including myself. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I've been wanting to get back to doing my wildlife art full-time for a long time but had a hard time justifying leaving a good paying job to go back to being what most view as a "starving artist". How do you tell people you want to quit a good paying job with benefits to struggle to make half as much money doing art, with no benefits? There's a lot of social/societal pressure, as well as one's own financial fears, to keep the "secure" day job. Well, my day job wasn't so secure after all, was it? So now I'm at a cross roads and I intend to get back on the road I detoured from years ago, the road of being a full-time wildlife artist. So you should all see a lot more activity on this blog, and more new paintings, in the coming months. Wish me luck! :)

Wild Dogs In Art Contest Winners

Here's this week's Wild Dogs in Art contest Winners!
Because I don't consider it fair to win my own contests I discount my own winnings.
Therefore....

Congratulations to Ernie Echols for his First Place winner of a
Mexican Grey Wolf!



Second Place goes to Judith Angell Meyer for her entry,
Hunter.



Tied for Third Place is Deb LaFogg-Docherty's The Greeting



and Judith Angell Mayer's Under Cover.



Nice work everyone! I wish much traffic (and buyers) come your way!

Here are the complete contest results.

FAA Deer Paintings Contest Winners

Tonight's FineArtAmerica winners of the Deer Paintings contest I hosted are as follows.

First Place goes to Susan Kinney for The Calm:



I entered my own art in the contest for fun, but it just wouldn't be right if I awarded myself. So although I technically won second place, I won't count that. I am awarding Second Place to the next one in line, Xueling Zou, for the entry Summer Moon Night:



Tied for Second Place is Sue Ervin's Twins painting of two little fawns:



Also tied for Second Place is Susan Kinney's Elk in the Woods entry:



Since there were quite a few entries that tied for Third Place I'm not going to post them all. Instead, as a tie-breaker, I'm going to pick my personal favorite from among the third place entries. Third Place goes to Ernie Echols for Bull Elk Freehand:



I like this piece for its simplicity, the harmonious colors, and the lovely lighting. I think it's all very well done.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Here are the contest results:
Deer Paintings Contest Results

FAA Animal Spots Contest Winner

I recently signed up with Fine Art America. It's a site where you can set up a gallery of images, and offer your art for sale as prints and note cards through their print-on-demand service. One of the fun little things about it is you can host and enter contests, competing with other FAA members. Some of the contests award FAA gift certificates to the winners, but most are just for fun. But it's free to enter and host contests so even doing it just for fun is worth it since it does help bring a little more traffic to your FAA gallery. And if you win a contest hosted by me you get a little extra exposure by getting a mention here on my blog and on my FaceBook page.

Besides entering a few contests hosted by others, I hosted one of my own called Animal Spots. Entries had to show spots on or relating to animals in some way. (You can enter your own contests but I didn't enter this one because I thought it might be weird if I won my own contest.)

Congratulations to the First Place Winner, Sue Melvin, for her entry Young Bluebird's Delight!



Sue Melvin has many other lovely images of birds, butterflies, and other critters as well. Check out her FAA Gallery.

You can see the rest of the entries here: Contest Results

If you're an artist I encourage you to join FAA. It's free. And if you're a member, I encourage you to enter and host contests, also free. It's fun and what do you have to lose?

Achieving Perfection In Our Art

We all want it in our art. We all strive for a perfect painting, drawing, or sculpture. Sometimes we get downright frustrated and fed up that we haven't yet achieved perfection. No matter how hard we try to get it right there's always something "wrong" with it.

So, how do you achieve perfection in our work? Well....

You don't.
You never will.
Get over it!

Seriously.

The sooner you let go of your death grip on "perfection" the happier you'll be. What defines a "perfect" painting is highly subjective. There is no real definition of "perfection" in art. You can be the most successful, famous artist in the world and someone will hate your work ... and that someone may even be you! In fact, if you ever reach the point where you are 100% satisfied with everything you do, that's a clear sign you have lost your marbles!

There is no perfect piece of art. Art is a progression, not a finality. If you are constantly frustrated that your art is not exactly the way you want it, you need to relax and learn to enjoy the journey, rather than only looking at the end goal. Art is an experience, not a finish line.

If you are hating your art, try to look at every piece of artwork as a step forward, not a failure. Read my blog's subtitle, "Don't be afraid to create just because your creation might be a failure. Remember, every failure brings you closer to success. So if you want to be successful hurry up and start failing as much as you can!" Learn to love your art, every piece, even the ones you want to throw away, for what they have taught you. No piece is a true failure. Every one has given you a gift, taught you something you could not have learned any other way. Love it for what it's given you. Cherish every "failed" art piece as much as the "successful" one because that successful piece would not exist if it had not been for the "failures" upon which it was built.

A lot of artists want to throw out their old or crappy work. Don't! I know right now you want it out of your sight. Fine. Put it in the attic or closet. But don't throw it away. Later, down the road, it will serve as a reminder of how far you've come. You'll cherish it as part of your history. It will serve as a reminder that, now matter how difficult things seem at the moment, it always gets better with time.