Painting Donation to Habitat for Humanities

Members of Brush Strokes art club donate original art to each new Habitat for Humanities home. It was my turn on Saturday, March 15. I donated my painting In The Woods, 26" x 36" framed, to the new homeowners at 103 Vivien Street in Hot Springs: Brenda Hammock and her daughters Shakedra and Shoniqua. It gave me a good feeling; I hope it helps them to turn their new house into a home.

Commission Work

Until now, I had not considered taking commission work because of the likely constraints on the painting. However, when Marshall Riggan approached me to do a painting of the sailboat Fandango that he and his wife Betty lived on for many years, I was intrigued. He asked for a painting of their boat in a rolling offshore sea, consistent with other paintings I've done. So, I decided to give it a try.

Working from photos of Fandango at dockside, and a similar boat under sail, I was able to create a painting that we all liked. Marshall and Betty have summed up their feelings about the painting as follows: "We are extremely pleased with the painting Jim created of our beloved sailboat Fandango. It's as if she is back in our lives and we are reminded daily of the wonderful adventures we had aboard for so many years." I've included an image of the Riggans taking delivery of their painting.

I found that it was very satisfying to provide a painting to clients that is really meaningful to them. This was such a good experience that I decided to add a page on commissions to my website. What I plan to do is to only accept commissions that are consistent with my style and usual subject matter.

Two Paintings Juried Into Diamond Exhibition

The Third Annual Diamond Exhibition will be held at the Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs from September 5 through October 2, with a reception on Friday, September 7 from 5 to 9 pm. This is a regional competition for all media of original artwork. This year's judge will be Marlene Gremillion of Hot Springs Village.

Forty paintings were juried into the exhibition by an artist panel, and I was very pleased to learn that two of my entries were accepted, In The Woods and Lake House.

Arkansas Artist Calendar Competition

The Arkansas Governor’s Mansion Association is planning to publish an arts calendar to introduce the work of Arkansas artists. A panel of jurors chose 88 works for inclusion in the first annual calendar, and from those entries, several will be purchased for the Mansion’s private collection. I am happy to report that my painting Mountain View Arkansas Barn has been chosen for inclusion in the calendar.

Featured Artist at Artists Workshop Gallery in June

Sheliah Halderman and I will be featured artists at Artists Workshop Gallery for the month of June. Our kickoff is Friday evening, June 1, during the Hot Springs Gallery Walk. We will host a reception from 5 to 9 pm.

I will be exhibiting many new paintings, from small (16 x 20" framed) to very large (28 x 40" framed). There will be rural landscapes and "lakescapes", several boats being pounded by waves in the open sea, and even a tropical sunset. I'll also have available a framed giclee print of a young boy fishing - I can't bring myself to let go of the original, as the model is my grandson. I'll also have some original paintings with dramatic skies available matted but unframed for very reasonable prices. And as always, note cards of my favorite paintings will be available in sets, and I'll have two sizes of inexpensive matted prints of my bathhouse paintings available (the originals have all been sold long ago).

There will be plenty of variety, with something to capture the imagination of just about everyone. So please stop by on Friday evening June 1 to say "hello" and partake of some refreshments while you're enjoying my artwork, and if you can't make it Friday evening, visit the gallery some other time during June to see a large and varied collection of my watercolors.

Welcome to my new blog

Well, I've finally decided to put a blog on my website. It should be a simple way for me to update people on news and events related to my painting activities. This is still somewhat of an experiment; I'm not sure just how useful it will be, but I decided I'd never know without trying it out. I'm not planning to post regularly, just when there's a good reason, as I still need to protect some time for my painting.

You can get to this blog directly, using the path http://www.jimoberst.com/blog.html, or by choosing the Blog link at the top of any of my website pages. I welcome your comments.

If you'd like to sign up to receive email updates whenever there is a new post, there is a button at the bottom of the page for this purpose.