It’s hard for me to accept critiques with an open mind. I was accepted as a hanging artist at the Rappahannock Art League Studio Gallery and went down today to sign the contract and get my first few paintings hung. But for some reason I’m still having a little pain in my heart over the critique of my framing offered over the phone when I was called to be told I had been accepted.

Turns out the jury wasn’t too happy with my choice of frames. They want all the frames to be of the same ilk…basically all of the same type. But I had chosen the frames individually to compliment each individual painting. So, some were black, one was black with a thin gold line, two or three were gold and one sort of a marbled gold.

I was told that the pastels should be matted. I use spacers without mats and advised that I would not be using mats and why. I explained that dusting is a problem with pastels and avoiding mats helps them more closely resemble oils. I also explained that matting pastels is very old school and does not help them at all. I also advised that each painting had a frame chosen specifically for it and while I would make every effort to create a unified look, I would not be using the same frame throughout.

This jury member also tried to get me to agree to just show beautiful landscapes by saying the jury was really only drawn to the landscapes I had submitted. Since I’m moving very deliberately into still life work, I found this a little frustrating.

But I did go down today and got set up and my first three paintings are on display. They are all, as it turns out, in black frames. One is a pastel still life. One is a landscape in oiland one is a Plein air still life in oil.