Best of Worldwide Oil Artists Volume 1

Last October I received an email from Kennedy Publishing informing me that my painting Sagrada Familia had been juried into the upcoming publication Best of Worldwide Oil Artists Volume 1.  Apparently someone from the company spends an enormous amount of time surfing the internet looking for work that they might like to include in one of their many publications. (They also run contests for inclusion in their books.)  After a bit of back and forth emailing of images, they asked me to also be in their upcoming Best of Worldwide Watermedia Volume 1.

A couple of years ago I spent about eight months sorting through lists of competitions, formatting images, filling out applications and writing checks for entry fees.  The result was generally a deluge of requests for me to pay an outrageous amount of money to help promote a solo show in an unfamiliar gallery or to pay for a listing in an online gallery.  I began to feel that artists are now supporting galleries rather than galleries supporting artists.  My precious time is better spent painting and drawing rather than entering contests.  Posting work on my web site is enough of a distraction.

I decided to go ahead and participate in both of the publications.  Though I’ve not yet received notification that either of the books has been printed, I have received proofs.  The paintings included in the Best of Worldwide Oil Artists Volume I is shown above. Sagrada Familia ended up not being one of the paintings they are including in the book.  The three paintings included are Barcelona, Departure and When Heads Begin to Roll.