2011 The Year That Was

2011 Was a rather memorable year for me. I enjoyed a good amount of quality time alone in my studio in front of my easel, met some great folks at a few opening receptions I attended (not to mention through Facebook), and even picked up a couple of awards along the way too. The best of those awards was the first place award I earned in an annual juried exhibit of area artists which had around thirty paintings on display.

                Me with my award-winning original oil painting "Packard" - May 2011

Even better than the awards however, is the fact that seven of my original oil paintings were sold in 2011. That's more than any previous year, and to me, an encouraging sign which has me fired up big time to keep painting as much as possible in 2012!

                   "Later That Day" 5x7 oil on canvas collection Ms. Carrie Hutsko.
                    The first of seven original oil paintings that sold in 2011.

Another great thing that took place in 2011 was the feature article I received from a local newspaper. That article dovetailed perfectly with the opening of my solo exhibit of about thirty oil paintings in July. What a great experience to have a writer come to my home and interview and photograph little old me! An additional bonus was having two of my oil paintings shown in that article as well.

Feature article from June 29, 2011 showing the two original oils “Morning, Drayton Hall” and “Lilly Mesmerized”.

Here is the full “Lilly Mesmerized” painting:

                                       12x24 inch oil on canvas of our cat, Lilly.

I did this painting on short notice over the summer after hearing about an August exhibit which had cats as the theme. There were over 35 paintings in that exhibit, and my painting won the People’s Choice Award, and was chosen by the organizers of the show to be featured on promotional posters advertising the exhibit.

That solo exhibit in July was the best however. It was through that exhibit that I sold six of my original oil paintings. One of which was purchased by HBO star and Pittsburgh native, Joe Manganiello! Joe loves the Steelers, and so do I folks, ...so do I.

2011 - A memorable year indeed!

JoeWinklerArt.com