Seaside Art Gallery's 22nd Annual International Miniature Art Show

The 22nd Annual International Miniature Art Show at Seaside Art Gallery is happening online now.  I look forward to this show every year.  It's always exciting to see the wonderful variety of art from artists all across the globe. 

Above are my three works in the show, shown in their frames.  The top two, Dreamer and You Too Shall Have Wings, were done in graphite and mixed media on film and are both from my series, Wood Nymphs and Other Curiosities. Below them is my new work, Ol' Blue Eyes, using colored pencil on a new substrate called TerraSkin.

Dreamer © Barbara A. Freeman

Graphite and Mixed Media on Film 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"

You Too Shall Have Wings © Barbara A. Freeman

Graphite and Mixed Media on Film 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Ol' Blue Eyes © Barbara A. Freeman

Colored Pencil  3" x 3"

The miniature, Ol' Blue Eyes was inspired by the beautiful white geese we saw at the Evergreen State Fair last year.  It was the beautiful blue eyes surrounded by the orange lid that did it!  It is an Embden goose which is one of the most common breeds of geese in the United States. Guess I never got close enough to their beautiful eyes to appreciate them.  I used colored pencils with a different substrate, called TerraSkin, which you can find out more about by clicking on the name.  TerraSkin is not paper made from trees, but from stone, using no water!  I wanted to try it because I read that it accepted silverpoint really well, but it works really nicely with all mediums! There may be more use of this in the future!

This great show is a favorite of mine. I love the presentation of the entire show online. Sadly, this year their website was hacked!  They are in the process of creating a new website which will be up in time for the show on May 1st.  When Seaside's site is up, this post will link to their site as well as to my work in their online gallery.  Seaside is a very organized and well run gallery.  Not only will you be able to click on the work to see an enlarged view, but if you click on the details, it tells you the artist's name and where they're from.  There is also a thumbnail of the work in it's frame which you can click on for an enlarged framed view. The clarity of the image is perfect AND you can put it in your cart and buy the artwork online!  Just click on Dreamer, You Too Shall Have Wings or Ol' Blue Eyes to see my work on Seaside's online gallery.  *(Links will not work until after Seaside Gallery's website is up.)

Seaside Art Gallery's show is one of the top five national miniature shows that you can see in person and online.  This year the exhibition runs from May 1^st through June 1^st,  2013. The Open Reception is May 25^th from 7 to 9 PM.  The online exhibition starts upon arrival of each artist’s work.  When the artwork arrives in the gallery, it is examined, measured, photographed and posted.  Each year, this nationally acclaimed miniature show exhibits approximately 600 works of art by artists from all around the globe. Some of the world’s most renowned miniature artists participate each year. Miniature art is often referred to as "the little jewels of the art world" and enjoys continued growth in popularity worldwide. I wish I could be there to see it in person! I hope if you are in the area, you will go see this great show!  Seaside Art Gallery, 2716 Virginia Dare Trail South, Nags Head, NC 252.441.5418 or 800.828.2444

Update - Finished - Forest with Dragonfly, Graphite on Dura-lar Matte WIP

I thought I had finished this work of the forest with dragonfly, (still untitled), but had mixed feelings about it after I photographed it and saw it on the monitor. The area that radiates from the dragonfly was to be of a greenish glow. Instead it was a bit too much on the yellow side, (see above).

The Vernal Arrival of the Green Darner © Barbara A. Freeman

Mixed Media on Film 7" x 7"

I decided to go back into it and lift some of that color off and add more green. It still doesn't look as green here, above, as it does in person. However, I am much happier with it now that I've changed it. A work always looks better after I get away from it and then look again with new eyes. It will be cropped a tiny bit after I mat the work which I think will make the composition stronger.

Close-up of dragonfly detail.

This work was done with graphite on Dura-lar Matte film. I used colored pencil on the back of the finished graphite work. The dragonfly's tiny wings were glazed with Golden interference oxide green (yellow shade). When I have it titled and framed, I'll post it again in it's completed form. Thank you for taking the time to read about my work in progress.

New Miniature, "Rhodie" With Bee

Sometimes you find surprising beauty in places you forget to look. I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned it before, but we don't particularly like the neighborhood we live in. It's near a commercial area, littered and noisy! I walk for exercise when I can and chanced to take my camera with me one day, (not something I normally do!). The flowers were blooming in a neighbor's yard and I thought the light on them was striking. Just when I was ready to click the camera, a bee buzzed inside one of the flowers. I am a bit leery of bees, one of my cousins died a few years ago by a bee sting. However, I was able to get several shots of the bee in the flower. When I downloaded the photo to my album, I saw how beautiful the bee was close-up. The wings were such an iridescent color! Another interesting thing I came across when doing a search to make sure I had my flower correctly identified, was that this flower is the Washington State Flower: Coast Rhododendron!

So because I happened to take my camera with me on a walk I normally find distasteful, I took a look closer at a flower, and observed a bee close up. From this I was able to create a thing of beauty that captured a moment in time.

"Rhodie" With Bee, Colored Pencil and Iridescent Acrylics on Acid-free Film, 2 3/4" x 3 3/4"

New Miniature

Well, I've finally finished something and it's scanned! This is the same landscape that I started in silverpoint awhile back and wasn't happy with, (only due to the ground color). In this one, I've changed the composition and added some fantasy interest. It's done in graphite on dura-lar matte film with some colored pencil added on the back. I would still like to do the first image over in silverpoint, on a different toned ground of course.

The Sentinel, Graphite and Colored Pencil on Acid-free Film, 3 5/8" x 2 5/8"