Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Competition


I have neglected my blog. A month ago I quit my teaching profession and decided that I will not go back to the public school system. Instead I will delve head long into the art business. While I have no clear idea of one path to success (there's not a fool proof manual on how to succeed as an artist), I do have some ideas of ways to become more visible to the general public and hopefully in the process catch the eye of the right publishing company, art director or gallery.

I think my ultimate goal is to illustrate children's books. I am not positive that this is my optimal niche. I feel as though there are other fields of artistry that I am not familiar with that may be better suited for me, or that I need to become better suited for myself. At any rate I am working on finessing my own artistic style and vision in my pursuit of business success in a creative industry.

The next day after resigning from my teaching profession I entered into a call for entries in the Society of Illustrators annual. Among several other pieces, I submitted the one above. Unfortunately I did receive notice a few weeks back that my entries did not make it into the annual, but I tried. This is my second time in life applying to this annual. Both times the jury did not pick me. I don't know why they did not pick me, but I'm okay with it. I'll keep trying.

The piece above is called Gamayun. It is a mythical creature in Russian folklore thought of as a bird of paradise. Originally the bird had no wings or legs and was said to fly with the propelling force of its tail. Its presence foretold the corruption and abolition of government institutions. As the bird continued to evolve in its form, artists gradually gave it wings and legs and the face of a woman. Popular artists such as Vasnetsov and Block gave it a new two sided meaning, one of happiness and one of sadness as they often portrayed the birds in bright colors and happy facial expressions for good omen and in dark colors with sad facial expressions to foretell tragedy. This piece is simply my take on the bird of paradise and its good fortune.

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