Barton Wins Best of Show National Award!
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As an artist I have won some awards. Several people's choice awards, and even best of show awards. That said, with the exception of the Audubon award in the first annual Birds of the Rocky Mountain Region National competition at the Brinton Museum in 2023, none other of my awards were actual judge's choice awards at the national level. Every year I try to have something to include in the annual national show put on by the SAGE art gallery in Sheridan WY, because it is close to home and I don't have to send my work. My expectations are low. With over 200 entries, if I even make it into the show, I truly only hope to place or maybe get people's choice again. This year two of my works made it in. One was a portrait of Lydia my granddaughter. When the awards were being announced, I wasn't holding my breath, so I was really shocked to hear that Lydia took BEST OF SHOW. The judge was Jake Gaedtke and he wasn't able to attend the reception. So I wrote him an email thanking him for choosing my piece. He wrote me back with a critique I will cherish. He gave me permission to share this. Here it is. "Thank you, Karen, so much for writing. You are very welcome. I loved your piece for the SAGE National Show. It is exquisite. Congratulations! I had a very difficult time choosing award winners. There were so many good pieces, I really struggled with it and felt bad that there weren't more awards. There were artists who very much deserved an award and recognition. Such is the challenge of being a judge.
I'm sorry I was unable to make it to the awards and show reception. I had a schedule conflict that evening that I was unable to get out of. I like to be there and explain why I chose the pieces I did for awards.
With yours Karen, it was kind of a no brainer for me. I immediately loved it and how you handled the subject. I look for good design, good drawing, a good ability of handling the medium, and an overall feeling how the artist uses those skills to be creative and produce a good piece when I judge a show. You had an excellent design by cropping the top and right portions of the painting. The face is off center and positioned beautifully. Your use of pastel is very impressive. I loved the variety you gave of getting tight in the face and then loosening up around the shawl and keeping edges soft. You framed the face with the shawl very well. You had a nice colorful dark background as opposed to a black or monochromatic background. Your drawing was impeccable. Very well drawn. Good job. With all that you still created a very emotional subject that tugged at my heart. Her eyes just drew me in and made me wonder what she was thinking. Her very delicate face and piercing eyes had so much emotion I couldn't stop looking at it. I just kept coming back to it. The lighting on her face set off her features in a beautiful way. I gave it a Best of Show hands down. Keep up the great work, Karen. You're doing great. Glad that you are entering shows and getting your work out there.
Again, congratulations and I hope I get to see more of your work in the future.
My Best Regards
Jake"