Two Paintings get Top Honors

“Eternal Song” won Best of Show!

I entered two art competitions in the past few months, and I’m pleased to announce that my paintings received high honors in each!  The first was the Central South National Art Competition put on by the Tennessee Art League.

In recent years, this competition has been a regional one, only accepting a handful of entries from Tennessee artists and those in neighboring states.  This year, they opened it up to the entire U.S.  I was honored just to have my painting “Maria” accepted into the show, but then I received the People’s Choice Award.

Many artists prefer to receive this award over others because it is determined by the visitors of the exhibit, and not by one or two judges.  Thank you to those of you who came to the opening reception and supported me!

The second competition was one that I entered on a whim: the Williamson County Fair Art Exhibit.  I figured that it would be a good show to be involved in if only for the sheer number of people who would be exposed to my work.  Little did I know that I would take home 3 top honors!

My exposure also resulted in several sales, new visitors to my studio, and not to mention my proposal!  “Eternal Song” won Best of Show as well as 1st Place in the painting category.  “Maria” won 2nd place in the painting category. Check out an online article about this event here. Thanks to all who attended!

I got engaged at an Art Show!

I am the happiest woman on earth… officially.  My amazing boyfriend of a little over a year and a half proposed to me on Wednesday, August 6th.  We are going to spend our lives together.  Here’s the story:

The Proposal

I had some of my work in the Williamson County Fair’s art show this year.  My painting “Eternal Song”  won Best of Show, and then 1st place in the painting category.  “Maria” won 2nd place.  I was thrilled, and I was invited to an artists’ reception Wednesday night.  Nate and I met at a central location and rode together to the fair.  He had come straight from work and had this bag with him.  He said it was for his change of clothes in case we wanted to do something later, but it really just had my ring box in it.

We get to the main fair building, and he excuses himself to the restroom.  I didn’t think anything of it.  I later found out that he had a guy meet him in the men’s room to hand off the car keys so he could run out to get the ring box and sneak it to the mayor without me knowing what was going on.  So sneaky!  I love it…