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Today (Sunday) I helped out at the take in for my local art club's (the San Fernando Valley Art Club) exhibition at VIVA Gallery.  All of you who have ever helped work at an exhibition know that it takes a whole lot of talented and hard working people working together to produce a successful show.  Almost 100 paintings were entered but unfortunately because of gallery size limitations not all of them could be hung.  We had a fun day together - especially when we were kicked out of the gallery so the juror could do his work in peace.  We all went out to lunch.  It was a long day and I really appreciate all the work and organization (led by Regina Wolford) it took to pull it off.

The juror for this show was David Gallup, a wonderful and well respected artist, who has recently completed a series of beautiful paintings documenting the Channel Islands and the wildlife found there.  His paintings will be shared at various venues across the country in the coming year.   Check out his website for more information.

I felt honored and fortunate that BOTH of my paintings were juried in!!!.... One was the Lagoon painting from one of my previous posts. (I changed it yet again and separated the two white birds that had caused my husband and several fellow bloggers some issues. -- You can no longer see it the way it was during the last "restatement".) The other was a large painting I made of the view overlooking the San Fernando Valley from the hill south of my home.  It's called "Storm Clouds Over The Valley".  It was also honored with a Merchant Award.  Yay!!!   It is really affirming when artists I admire think my work is worthy of recognition!