Before starting with this year's new standard of attaching the Covid-19* to everything I just want to point out that there are no "Do-Overs" in our time here on earth, each moment once passed is gone. Yes, this year's pandemic has been a disaster for our plans in nearly every respect. For artists like me it has been the cancellation or rescheduling of show, events and the use of virtual online galleries and awards receptions.  Like most professions and interests there are numerous annual events that we all plan for, I am new to this game but I catch on quick; I use spreadsheets to track which pieces are going to what show and when. When things started getting postponed, cancelled, etc. I decided to scrap the "plan" an enter the best piece of art I had available and eligible for whatever was next. This has wreaked my plans & strategies but paid off handsomely.

I entered my best piece of the year (so far) in the Indiana Artists Club's Annual Juried Exhibition and received a 3rd Place Award. The piece, "North Towards Avalon" was going to be held back for the Hoosier Art Salon; but, when it wasn't clear that the Salon would even happen I decided to chance it even though it would make my piece ineligible for the Hoosier Salon and some other exhibitions. 

Let me explain that some of the top exhibitions have a rule your entry cannot have been in any prior Juried Exhibitions. While this is good for the exhibition to show only new fresh works, it becomes a pain in the ass to keep track of for the artists. In my first year of showing (2018) I saw one particular artist show the same piece in like 5 shows, some juried - some not. I do like the rule for the major exhibitions but there are a lot more "B" level competitions where this becomes ridiculous, I call it Rule #5 because many organizations Copy & Paste one another's Prospectus.  The case in point is that I made 3 winter landscape paintings of Thorpe Creek, I wanted to enter them all in the Hoosier Salon, but decided to not chance it and entered one in the IN/A Club, a second one in the Watercolor Society of Indiana's Juried show, so I was left with only one for the Hoosier Salon. The payoff: each one made their Show, each Show is an honor to be included in and I am honored & thrilled!

I was really stoked too that another big show, Indiana Heritage Arts had postponed their summer exhibition until November and they eliminated Rule #5! I entered all three snowy creek scenes because they would all be eligible and not likely to sell at the other exhibitions. Then they revised their dates and one of the three will still be hanging at the Hoosier Salon - Oh, the irony!

Summer in the meantime is in full swing , most (not all) Plein Air events are still going on which too has it's own ironic twist in that most Landscape painters hate painting Indiana summers because of the Sea of Green. Indiana is basically woodlands - hilly to the south - swampy to the north - with verdant waves of grain everywhere else. The difficulty is that Plein Air events are mostly daytime events, after sunrise and done before sunset so you have to deal with this Sea of Green. And, while 2020 has been rough on our schedules, work and social lives; mostly the weather has been very mild and seasonal. Look at the corn & soybean fields and you'll see a richness in those verdant waves - all that green means Green ($).  I am learning to deal with the Sea of Green in my painting and it has paid off the last couple of weekend Plein Air events. I think this summer's schedule wreaking is kinda like painting that Sea of Green - there is a lot of opportunity there, its not what we are comfortable with or prefer; but, its what we've been dealt and there are no "Do-Overs."

Please reply in Comments what you're doing with your own personal Sea of Green and how you're making it into your own Verdant Waves ($).