After receiving a helpful critique/comment on my June 15 submission of the Zuke Blossom painting, I am struck by the value of the artist community that has blossomed through Blogdom. Due to my longtime membership in the online critique group Watercolor Workshop, when various members decided to venture into the world of online art blogs I had to try it for myself. I have so enjoyed having my own blog and felt like it improves my art to put it out there for the world to see, even though I may not feel I did everything right it is there in all honesty for us to see, goofs and all. I can go back and see what my thoughts were on that painting last year, see what I said I would like to improve and check on myself to see if I did make the necessary changes to improve that particular skill a year later.
This morning I received a comment on the June 15 submission, Zuke Blossom. It was from another artist, Nicholas Simmons ( http://nicholassimmons.blogspot.com/ ). Since I don't know him, I checked out his blog and found he has shown his watercolor paintings worldwide and is a gifted artist, conducts workshops, and has a wonderful grasp of watercolor. In reading some of his blog entries, I also looked at his links sidebar and saw the name of Sandy Maudlin, whose blog I read daily. So, that is probably where he came to my blog; through hers as I have been corresponding with her through her blog, gleaning information about painting on Yupo paper, about which she is so well-versed! I am struck by the circular nature of the art community in Blogdom, what an asset to our creative journeys. It does seem very much a community to hear from people you do not know, probably will never have the opportunity to meet and yet care enough to comment on your work. What giving natures artists have!
Another interesting aspect to this is that I subscribe to Watercolor Artist magazine and had just read the article in the August 2008 issue exploring framing and matting of watercolors. Nicholas contributed his thoughts to this article and he was published in the magazine. Pretty cool, huh?
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3 comments:
The more great artists you know who are willing to share their time and effort, the better your world becomes. We are a small world, indeed! I just bought Nick's DVD - his technique is unique and amazing and looks tons of fun to try. I recommend it to everyone.
I'm on Watercolor Workshop! I just found your Zuke Blossom! Lovely. WW is such a great group. I'm on there more as a watercolor fan than an active watercolor painter. I've learned so much!
Also, Nick is fantastic. He really knows his stuff. I helped edit the DVD Rhonda mentioned above and was really fortunate to be able to watch his technique every day for over a month.
This felt like 6-degrees of separation. Such a small world. See you on Watercolor Workshop!
Kelly,
I agree with your 6-degrees of separation concept; isn't this blog/online group opportunity a great one for bringing us all together? I was one of the early, early subscribers to Watercolor Workshop and have learned so much from the group and that continues to this day. I was truly honored to be chosen as the group's Artist of the Year in 2006 and have tried to live up to that honor by participating as much as I can and helping others as I have truly been helped. The art community is truly a circular one...what goes 'round, comes 'round.
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