Good news!

I received word just yesterday that my colored pencil drawing, Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation/Liberation, was awarded 2nd Prize in the Drawings and Original Prints category in the 70th Annual May Show at The Little Art Gallery in North Canton, OH. The exhibition will be on  display through June 2.

I also received word last week that my mixed media composition, Sarah Emma Edmonds I: Departure, has been selected for inclusion in the Adams County Arts Council's Ninth Annual Juried Exhibition, to be held June 8 - 17 at Schmucker Art Gallery on the campus of Gettysburg College, as part of the Gettysburg Festival.

And I Forgot to Mention...

My last post reminded me that I never mentioned that my colored pencil/mixed media painting featured previously on this blog, Departure, was accepted into Explore This! 7, an online exhibition of mixed media works which are 75% colored pencil, presented by the Colored Pencil Society of America through January 31, 2012. You may view the complete exhibition up until that date by visiting the CPSA website at http://www.cpsa.org/.

Great news!

I learned just yesterday that my recently-completed piece, Transformation/Liberation, was one of 117 works accepted into the Colored Pencil Society of America's 19th Annual International Exhibition, to be held June 29 - July 31 at the Charles W. Eisemann Center in Dallas, Texas. I'm very excited about this, particularly because the piece is so new and such a different approach for me that I hadn't quite concluded how I felt about it, and am extremely honored to have my newest work displayed in such a prestigious venue.

To see more of my colored pencil and mixed media Civil War-themed works, please visit http://www.civilwarfineart.com/.

Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation/Liberation, FINAL

As I had hoped, I did manage to finish this piece yesterday afternoon and my photographer, Emily Puls, was able to photograph it for me so that now I really do have a professional photograph of it to post, where the colors and values are properly balanced! As is so often the case when I finish a long-term project, at the moment I really can't say how I feel about it -- one time I look at it, I'm very happy with it; the next time I look at it I have many, many doubts and misgivings. It will take some time, I'm sure, for me to see this one somewhat objectively.

Step 15, Sarah Emma Edmonds, II: Transformation/Liberation

Coming down the home stretch with this, now -- I'd like to be finished by Saturday so that I can have my photographer shoot it over the weekend, for entry into a couple of juried exhibitions. It's really gotten to be exciting to work on now, since the remaining areas have little to do with reality, and a lot to do with emotion, spontaneity and expression.

Step 14, Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation/Liberation

Starting to get more into the three inset panels at the bottom -- worked mostly on the far right. I'm fairly well pleased with that portion so I'll move over to the section of woods separating that panel from the middle panel.  I'll be glad when I have a professional photographer shoot this -- my photos come out unevenly lit, sometimes too light, sometimes too dark (like now). But at least I get a chance to see how the image works in a different size than the way I normally view it -- helps put some distance between me and the work and possibly allows me to see it with a more critical eye.

Step 13, Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation/Liberation

The woods may be mostly done, now. The center section seems to be showing some glare, despite the fact that I didn't use a flash when photographing it --- may have just been the way the light was striking it. I think it's far enough developed to permit me to work on some other portion. The most under-developed section at this point is the lower right, so that's where I'll turn my attention next. It's starting to feel like completion may be fairly close -- up to now I've just been working on it, without a clear vision for how much more needed to happen and how long that might take.

Step 12, Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation/Liberation

Closing in on that middle woods section and the lower three "inserts". This is not the best photographic image I could have gotten; I took it as the sun was close to setting so I wouldn't have to use a flash, and the left portion is darker than it should be while the right is lighter than it should be. But I'll be exhibiting and selling my prints at the Marketplace of the Ladies and Gentlemen of the 1860's Conference in Harrisburg (actually Camp Hill), PA this weekend so I didn't think I'd have any other time to post. If you're in the area, stop in and say hello: we're at the Radisson in Camp Hill from noon - 7 on Friday, 8 - 5 on Saturday and 8 - 2 on Sunday.

Step 11, Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation/Liberation

Just a few additions to the righthand side, trying to give the righthand portion an inviting, peaceful, "beckoning" appearance. (Note my addition to the title of the word "Liberation" - it's a possibility I'm now considering.) I'm just about ready to start doing sometthing with that center woods section now -- I think I have determined a way to start into that portion.

I'm chuckling as I type this because one of my friends told me on Wednesday, after looking at the beginnings of the shrouded figure I have in the lower left hand section, that she thought it looked like a grub. I'm not sure that's all bad -- Sarah was at a pretty low point at that time in her life. How much lower could anyone get than a grub?

Step 10, Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation

Today's post is primarily a case of my wanting to add the image and see how it looked to me, presented in a different way. I guess I've been looking at it too long today. Since the theme of the piece is, after all, as its working title suggests - "Transformation" -- it's intentional on my part that the woods on the left looks quite different from the woods on the right. But while I like both sides individually, I'm still completely unclear as to how I want to make the needed transition in the middle of the composition. I guess it's a good thing that I won't be able to work on it again for at least a day or two! Maybe some time away will help me see it in a new light, just as seeing it in this posted, "mini" version might do.

Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation, Step 9

I've reached the point where this is starting to get very exciting to work on. It's interesting to me that for so long, the idea that I didn't know every last detail of what I was doing in a given composition was terribly intimidating to me. But now, having a basic plan in mind but staying open to the possibilities, the twists and turns that may present themselves, is what I find really interesting about creating art. I'm still a bit vague about exactly what's going to happen in the middle section of this woods, but occasionally I stop and add color and step back to see if I like the additions. And I'm definitely OK with the "not knowing", for now. I find that phenomenon interesting, and wonder if there's a similarity there to how Sarah Emma may have felt as she worked on her new, untested identity.

Step Eight, Sarah Emma Edmonds II:Transformation

I've darkened the trees on the lefthand portion of the composition, adding more branches to appear like more of a barrier to the brightly-colored woods beyond. I've also added a first layer of color (Tuscan Red) to the trees on the righthand side. I decided I needed to work a little more overall, not spending so much time developing the left side. In the middle section I'm less clear on what direction I'm going; I eventually want a more secluded, "sheltering" type of appearance to the woods and don't know exactly what that means to me, in terms of color and value. So while I give that some thought, I added trees to the righthand side. As I study it, I'm not pleased with the tilt of some of the trees on the right -- they seem to be leaning a little to the left and I find that perspective unnerving, which is definitely not what I will want for that side of the composition.

Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation, Step 7

My focus at the moment is on making the left third of the woods dark, threatening -- almost the sense of having been scorched by fire. To that end I've started adding some black to the trunks and limbs I want to have appear the darkest. This portion will be representative of Sarah Emma's childhood, dominated by a father who clearly resented the fact that she had been born female rather than male, and characterized by her constant frustration and bitterness at never being able to win his approval.

To view my complete series' of Civil War-themed colored pencil works, please visit http://www.CivilWarFineArt.com.

Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation, Step 6

A few more changes have taken place; I've started adding more Tuscan Red and Indigo Blue to the upper left trees, and some color to the figure in the small inset on the lower left. I've also begun adding a border of wormwood to that inset. I'm starting to get in the "flow", now. Working on it was sometimes a struggle, up to now, but I've got a clearer idea of what I'm trying to do so now I'm getting more excited about working on it.

Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation, Step 5

Not a lot new to show; I just want to get back in the habit of posting on a more regular basis. I have started laying in the center section trees. I also spent a lot of time studying the image and deciding what to insert in the box shape in the lower middle section, as well as what might go into a similar shape in the lower far right section. I'm hoping to have more time to work on this piece this afternoon.

Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation, Step 4

Finally had a chance to make a little progress with this. I think I've figured out how I want to handle the addition of the superimposed images that aren't part of the woods, but that perhaps tell more of a story about Emma's transition. I've started to indicate the first of three images in a "frame" in the lower left. We'll see how this goes! (In other words: we'll see if I continue to like this plan!)

In other news: yesterday I made the happy discovery that Sarah Emma Edmonds I: Departure (show title, Departure), a piece whose progress I posted on this blog when I began it a year ago, has been accepted into the Colored Pencil Society of America's online exhibition, Explore This! 7. The exhibition can be viewed on their website, http://www.cpsa.org/, beginning February 1 and running through January 31, 2012. Though I don't always submit entries to this show -- which stipulates that the artist must use colored pencil in combination with another medium or non-colored pencil element -- this is the first time I've had a piece accepted into this exhibition. I'm quite excited about this opportunity!

To view more of my Civil War-themed works, please visit http://www.civilwarfineart.com/. To view my other work or learn about the classes and workshops I teach, please visit http://www.AmyLindenberger.com.

Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation, Step 3

I began adding a few more branches and started extending the Tuscan Red into new territory.

Progress has been slow, as I'm still working the gallery in Gettysburg, PA through the holiday season, and also have a commission that needs to be completed by mid-December. So my attention is more on those two things than on progress with my own personal work, right now. To see the various series' of work I have developed for my gallery, please visit http://www.CivilWarFineArt.com.

Sarah Emma Edmonds: Transformation, Step 2

Not a lot of new information to report; I've just added some additional Tuscan Red to some of the tree trunks and more patches of sky using the Light green. I have some symbolic imagery I'd like to add in the left foreground, but am currently unsure of how to do it without the viewer thinking it's part of the more literal, woods area. I'll have to experiment a bit, I think, away from the actual drawing.

Sarah Emma Edmonds II: "Transformation"

Finally, I've gotten back to the second in my series about Sarah Emma Edmonds, the Canadian-born woman who took on a male identity prior to the Civil War, and as the war began, enlisted in the 2nd Michigan Volunteer Infantry as Franklin Thompson. At present, I'm calling it "Transformation", but that's just a working title.

This piece relates to the period when Emma left her home in Canada and worked on developing her male persona, hiding in the woods by day and travelling only under cover of darkness until she felt confident in her new role. I'm seeking an air of mystery and tension as I begin this piece, and those goals helped direct me to choose an apricot-colored acid-free mat board surface -- I believe the color is called Taos -- large enough for the composition I have planned. So far I'm working primarily with an Imperial Violet Prismacolor pencil, though I've also just begun adding a little Tuscan Red to see how that works on one of the darker tree trunks, and a little light green in the sky sections. It's all an experiment at this point, but I like the quality of surrealism I'm seeing.

Sarah Emma Edmonds I: Departure, final (really!)

(A professional photograph makes a huge difference, in my opinion! Many thanks to my photographer, Emily Puls.) This colored pencil/mixed media (powdered graphite, Lasertran waterslide decal) painting on Gessobord measures 18" x 24". I will be displaying it for the first time in the "Palm Sunday through Resurrection" exhibition, March 26 - April 24 at Art & Soul Gallery, 900 Market St., Lemoyne, PA. How does this piece fit that theme? I have indicated in earlier posts that my goal is to have several layers of meaning in my work. When displayed in non-Civil War venues, this painting will simply carry the title, Departure. There are several biblical passages that come to mind for me with this piece, and the Resurrection would be one of them. Also, Sarah Emma's mother was a devout Christian and Emma embraced her faith wholeheartedly. Gallery owner/director Lyn O'Neal graciously invited me to participate, and I am excited to have this as my first opportunity to display this new painting.