A Feast for the Eyes: Sandi Whetzel Exhibits at Umpqua Valley Arts Association's Summer Arts Festival in Roseburg, OR, June 26- 28, 2009

I'm putting the finishing touches on about a dozen new paintings to display at Roseburg's UVAA, (Umpqua Valley Arts), Summer Arts Festival the last weekend of June. I'll be inside the building in Gallery II along with five other artists of Umpqua River Gallery, a group of artists banded together in an online virtual gallery, click here .

The festival theme is "A Feast for the Eyes". As usual, UVAA held an artist competition to select a poster to promote this theme for the event. I submitted an entry, (pictured with this post). Its title is Through the Eyes of a Child...A Visual Feast. Apparently the committee was looking for a food-based theme, though. I wasn't sure what they were looking for, but I am pleased with the painting I conceived. I think it vividly expresses the feeling of wonder children have in response to what they perceive as "magical" in their surroundings. I like the painting very much and had fun doing it. It is a winner and will be part of my exhibit. I am anxious to get feedback on it.

Creating paintings from my imagination to fit imposed themes for events of various organizations catapults me into more creative modes than working from reference photos for inspiration. Having to come up with something from nothing for a painting concept is great for my creativity and is a challenge. Without these competitions to illustrate an imposed theme, I would not have been inspired to produce the Feast for the Eyes painting, My Oregon Grape painting, nor any of the wine series that have been used to promote four wine-themed events.

I am really excited about the debut showing of nine new succulent paintings, the Oregon Grape painting that was used to promote the Glide Wildflower Show this last April, as well as the Feast for the Eyes painting. I have incorporated some new very 3-dimensional textures in some of the succulents that literally reach out to be touched. One of them was accepted into Oregon's Gold Beach 2009 Inaugural National Juried Exhibit of Art. It was an exciting honor to have two pieces accepted into that national show. Two new scintillating abstract succulents and three romantic succulents add to the lineup, along with my wine series, several affordable high quality giclee reproductions, my greeting card art and art magnets.

I had record sales at last year's UVAA festival so I am anxious to have another great year. The festival hours are from 12-9 pm, Friday, 11-9 pm, Saturday and 11-4 pm Sunday. The location is at the Arts Center, 1624 West Harvard, Roseburg, OR. Unlike last year, the weather should be more tolerable and there are many activities, food, music and all kinds of art forms. It should be a really fun weekend. If you go, please look me up inside the building in Gallery II. My next exhibit will be a solo art exhibit at DIVA, (Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts) in Eugene, OR, the entire month of July, but that's covered in the next post.

Sandi Whetzel's Art Selected for Glide Wildflower Show 2009: Celebrating Oregon's 150 Years of Statehood

This year as every year, The Glide Wildflower Show held a competition to determine which artist would create the image for the 2009 poster to promote their annual event. Since Oregon will be celebrating 150 years of statehood this year, they wanted the poster to feature the Oregon Grape, (Berberis aquifolium), Oregon's State Flower which grows in the wild. I was happy to take up the challenge and pleased when they chose my art image to illustrate their 2009 poster.

As in all my work I was not content to merely reproduce an image of the subject. I wanted to give these small yellow budding blooms the recognition they deserve; poised alongside their holly-shaped leaves, which sport more than just shades of green at different types of the year in different weather conditions. After becoming familiar with the plant's anatomy, I took pleasure in designing the image of the young clustering buds beginning to open on a grander scale than reality. Many of us never experience an intimate view of smaller blossoms to truly appreciate their intricate beauty. Normally, these buds and blooms just appear as masses of yellow; too small to be noticed individually.

The Glide Wildflower Show was founded in 1965, with a mission to promote appreciation, education and conservation of our native flora. Not only is it the largest and oldest such event in the Pacific Northwest, it has also been responsible for an enormous amount of research and documentation of species, habitat change and preservation of rare and endangered plants. Each spring since 1965, thousands of nature lovers have visited Glide, Oregon to see hundreds of native wildflowers on display. Botanical experts answer questions and give informative talks.

Posters bearing my rendition of the Oregon Grape have been on display throughout Douglas County for the last several weeks. The Glide Wildflower Show will be held at 20062 N Umpqua Hwy, Glide, OR this weekend, April 25 & 26, from 9-5pm. Photographers are welcome to photograph any of the plant species. The original painting of my Oregon Grape will be on dispaly during the Wildflower Show and also during the Summer Arts Festival the last weekend of June.

Other related events in the area this weekend are the Botanical Art display by my artist friend, Judy Waller at Roseburg's Umpqua Valley Arts Association and the 9th Annual Douglas County Earth Day & Energy Fair held at the fairgrounds, April 25th.