Reception and Awards at Strathmore

There was an excellent turnout today at the reception for the 2008 Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor Exhibition at Strathmore Mansion in Bethesda. I saw a lot of friends and met some artists I have only known by name or reputation. Strathmore is a wonderful venue, and the 100 paintings are hung in several rooms on two floors. Thanks to the Baltimore Watercolor Society and the Board of Directors of Strathmore for putting on such a fine show.

Summer Sonata was awarded the Margaret Jones Memorial Silver Medal.

More details in the April 6 post.

Nassau #2

Nassau #2 - 28" x 53" - Da Vinci fluid acrylic

This acrylic watercolor painting is composed from photographs I took in Nassau a couple months ago. It's probably a bit of a nod to Bill Moore, and aptly so - we wish he and Yinghua a bon voyage to a new home and new life in the Windy City!

New Da Vinci Ad

This full-page ad is on page 5 of the new issue of Watercolor Artist magazine, and also the new issue of The Artist's Magazine. I'm not sure what the circulation of WA is, but I understand TAM is around 170,000 - lots of people will see this!

Tommy Bolin Shirts - TommyBolin.biz

Here is a new t-shirt I designed using Tommy's image from the sleeve of the Private Eyes album. The Japanese characters are also from that album; the three words - forest, wealth, grave - phonetically approximate "Tommy Bolin." The back of the shirt features the Bolin/Dean Guitars "Two Legends Unite" logo I designed for the NAMM show. There is also a girl's tank top. The shirts are available at TommyBolin.biz, a Bolin-owned and operated entity. Order today and wear the all-time coolest rock legend proudly!

Art Buzz Remix - Jordan Flats Grand Opening

From Jade Floyd's DC This Week blog:

Friday night I invite you to an ART BUZZ REMIX for the Grand Opening of Jordan Flats in N.E. by Senate Realty. While you are there check out some new works by three of DC’s hottest artists and consider making a donation to the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative.

You might remember a few weeks ago I hosted Art Buzz at Senate Realty' s offices and more than 150 DCers came out to support the Collaborative. Well this Friday we have another surprise for you........a preview of chic living in NE. Also you can catch the artwork of three talented DC based artists:

Nick Simmons - http://nicholassimmons.blogspot.com/
Aidah Fontenot - http://www.aidah.com/
Chinedu Felix Osuchukwu - www.ilivetocreate.net

Learn more at http://www.thejordanflats.com/Home_Page.html and see everyone on Friday! Who knows...........I might make one of these flats my new home.
5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Jordan Flats
1702 West Virginia Ave., NE
Washington, DC 20002

Mid-Atlantic Exhibition - Summer Sonata

Summer Sonata was awarded the silver medal at the 2008 Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor Exhibition, the 123rd annual juried show sponsored by the Baltimore Watercolor Society. This is a major show with hundreds of entries from Delaware, D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virgina, and West Virginia. The juror was Skip Lawrence. ;)

The exhibition hangs from April 12- May 24 at Strathmore Mansion in Bethesda. The artists reception and awards presentation is Sunday, April 27, 1-3 PM.

Mi amigos Alex y Bill

Two of the coolest people I've met on the internet are Alex Sahores (Buenos Aires) and William K. Moore (Los Angeles).

Alex is an architect who also devotes plenty of time to watercolor, and is one of the leaders of the Hispacuarela site, a very nice forum with a lot of talented artists. He paints in his own style that often depicts landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes of Argentina and South America. I particularly like his tendency to highlight the abstract component in many of these compositions.

Alex posted a series of plein air pieces on Hispacuarela over a year ago, and I instantly fell in love with this landscape, La Escondida. Wouldn't you know it, he sent it to me (with another painting!) and I've finally gotten around to framing it. I don't usually get too excited over plein air work, but this is a notable exception, an absolute gem. The image is 13 x 20 cm.

Bill Moore's raw and candid scenes of the myriad characters inhabiting the barrio, combined with a dazzling shorthand prose style makes his Bogota Painter one of the blogs for art-loving hipsters. Yes, this is the guy you've been hearing about! Ranging from the bizarre to the sublime, his subject matter is getting wilder and more diverse all the time. Some of my favorites have been his unique self portraits. Chink Chank Chunk arrrived in the mail not long after visiting Bill in LA last fall.

A Moore classic, full of quirk and smirk. Now a prized possession, and it got the same treatment: 8-ply museum mat, Nielsen molding. The image is 16 x 18 cm.

Both of these gentlemen are great artists and fascinating people. I've had the chance to hang out with Bill a couple of times, and hope to meet Alex one of these days. A huge thanks to both for your generosity and friendship!

On The Radar

Thanks to DC buzzmaker, PR pro, and in-the-know hottie Jade Floyd for the entry on her cool blog, DC This Week. I knew there had to be a resource for the true hipster info around these parts, and she is it!

On My Radar: Artist Nicholas Simmons