"Outside the Box" or "Shhh - It's a Secret"

North River Arts Society is holding its Outside the Box fundraiser again this summer.  Adjectives:  creative, fun, affordable, fascinating, exciting, mysterious, surprising, eclectic, diverse...                                       Background:  Artists and friends of North River Arts Society were invited to create a 8" x 8" works, in a different medium and/or style from their norm.  The works are displayed by number only (no names attached, no signatures) for a 3-week long silent auction.  Bidding on each piece (and there are hundreds of them) begins during the opening party on August 11 7-10pm and bidding continues through August 31st at noon.  The exhibit then stays up for another week with the artists' names revealed.  Prepare to be surprised.

The first year, I painted the honey bears above, which now live in New York City. As an oil painter, the medium was no different, but the subject matter was a big change, and in doing the painting I discovered my love of kitsch as subject matter. (I just looked up the definition of "kitsch" -

something of tawdry design, appearance, or content created to appeal to popular or undiscriminating taste.)  Can't say I completely agree with the definition... I firmly believe that some things are so kitschy they cross back over into beautiful and can become iconic, and it takes extraordinarily discriminating taste to see that inner beauty.  I have a number of them in my studio, but that's for another time.

The next year, I used pen & ink, watercolor, gold pen, and colored pencil to sketch the waves shown here as my entry. That piece lives in the next town over.

This year's entry is a secret until August 11th when all will be revealed (except the artist names).  All I can say is I went completely Outside the Box, and enjoyed the results so much, I'm planning to work more with this new exploration ... hmmmm.