First Place in Drawing - Miniature Painters, Sculptors, & Gravers Society in Washington DC

A Flash of Blue © Barbara A. Freeman

Graphite and Mixed Media on Acid-free Film, 2 3/4" x 3 3/4"

I received a great surprise in the mail yesterday from the Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers Society in Washington D.C. (MPSGS). I am thrilled to have been given the First Place Award in Drawing for my work, A Flash of Blue!

I had already gotten the acceptance notice that all three of my works above, A Flash of Blue, Innocence and A Touch of Autumn were accepted into the Exhibition. This is the 4th year of having all my work accepted into this prestigious miniature art society. There are over 800 works in the exhibition this year. This is such a great honor and means so much to me.


The 77th Annual International Exhibition of Fine Art in Miniature opens with the Artists' Luncheon, Awards Ceremony and Opening Reception on November 21st. The Exhibition is held at The Mansion at the Strathmore, beautifully set on a hilltop at 10701 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20852. The Exhibit opens to the public on November 22nd through December 30th, 2010. The Mansion hours are Weekdays, 10 - 4 PM and Wednesday till 9 PM. Saturday it is open from 10 - 3 PM.


I sure wish I could be there, it's so far away! Sigh...


Also, a big Congratulations to all my online miniature artist friends who's work has also been awarded! As always, thank you for taking the time to read this.

New Work, "A Flash of Blue" - Miniature

A Flash of Blue © Barbara A. Freeman
Graphite and Mixed Media on Film 2 3/4" x 3 3/4"

At last, a new miniature work finished! The work is done in graphite on Dura-lar Matte film. I used acrylic paint and interference colors for the dragonfly and mushrooms. I also added some color on the back of the film with colored pencils giving the end of the path, a subtle, soft, warm glow. Unfortunately, it doesn't show up very well in the photo. There is a LOT of detail packed in this tiny forest!

This is the first time I've used a dragonfly in any of my images. I wanted something to suggest a bit of magic and the dragonfly and also mushrooms seemed likely images. I thought they would fit well in this landscape. I didn't know until I started my research that the Common Green Darner dragonfly is actually the Washington state insect! The dragonfly I have used here is the Blue Eyed Darner. I liked this particular dragonfly not only because of its wonderful color, but I have seen lots of these beauties once when we were on one of our walks. There was an abundance of beautiful blues zipping by and checking us out. The blue colors would vary as they darted in and out of the sunlight. It was a beautiful sight and I don't think I'd ever seen that many dragonflies at once.

The forest is inspired by Lord Hill Park. There are a lot of water spots and ponds in this park, so lots of dragonflies as well. My first walk in this park was in late February, it was very wet and cold, so we didn't walk very far. The next trip was in the spring and it was a magical experience. I must confess that I usually have magical-like experiences when I get away from the noise of people and all their stuff! When I get my work finished and submitted, I'll be heading to one of these wonderful places to experience that magic again. In the meantime, I love creating these tiny miniature escapes! I hope you enjoy looking at them.

I still need to cut mats and frame the work. They each need to be scanned and put up on my website. Those images will be a much higher quality than the photo shots I show here. When they are all up on my site, they will be complete with title, size and framed. I'll post which work I'll be submitting to each show. When they get accepted, I'll post again with more information on them. I hope if you are near any of the shows that you'll go take a look to see my miniature escapes in person. Thank you for taking the time to look at my work and read this.