Every year I make at least one piece of art for a juried show. The first show that I ever entered was a local quilt show. I had made a piece that I really liked, and those judges hated every thing about it, even the back. I was encouraged by a friend to enter it in this juried show. I was accepted and got a really great hang space, and I have been entering this show ever since.

So this was the original idea for one piece. I started it in a workshop where everyone else was making self portraits. This idea is interesting, but too complicated, I was going for super simple.

This is more better, but it needed to have another house for the sake of symmetry (oh curse the need for symmetry. I was sick of it at this point).

So this is how it ended up. Am I happy with it? Not exactly, the background is boring and the lines could be stronger, but it took a lot of effort to quilt around each bit, so it’s done.

And this was the second piece. I had wanted to do a portrait of the elusive blue heron for a while. I often see them flying around at dusk and I have never been able to photograph one, I just have to enjoy it in the moment. So these were sample backgrounds.

I started off trying for realism, but that seemed rather dull, so things did get a bit abstract.

This is how it ended up, and of course I would like to change bits, and add more. But, the deadline for submission was up, so off it went. And to my good fortune both pieces were juried in, so that’s the end of anxiety and second-guessing until next year (or perhaps sooner).