Viewing posts from: November 2011

‘Farewell’ wins Prize of the Culture Council

 Out of hundreds of entries, one of the two paintings that Marina Kulik entered in the Grand Prix d'Aquarelle has won the prize of the Culture Council! Her other painting (MCRose 13) received a honorary mention.

'This year I am trying out several contests to see if that works as well for publicity as exhibiting does. So far there wasn't much worth mentioning, I ended up in the last fifty in the 'Power of Self' art contest (with self-portraits) and just missed the finals of the Saatchi Showdown (3 votes short, ouch!). This fall I  was invited to participate in the Grand Prix d'Aquarelle 2011. It was an interesting contest, with a theme that I found appealing: 'Roses without thorns'.

There were strict rules, the work should be made specifically for this Grand Prix, and it was not permitted to show it anywhere else before it was judged. That's why it hasn't been on my website until last week! I have actually produced three works for it, but one, though great fun to create, didn't come through my own ballot. I painted the singers of the Dutch song 'Rozen Zonder Doornen',  Gert en Hermien Timmermans... very lame but now kind of cult- But it would only mean something to older Dutch people.

Ok, and the other two that made it were a new version of my McRoses, number 13, a big one on handmade paper. Certainly no thorns there, as it is a painting suggesting an estranged rose, from fabric, or 'pillows' as many people say. The second was more complicated, and I am very happy that it is this one that won the prize: it's name is 'Farewell' because I painted it like the roses we dropped in the water of the North Sea, after we scattered the ashes of a dear friend. And, it has as a subtitle  'Such roses do not exist, but you can hide the thorns'. Hence the ribbon around it.

I am very happy with this acknowledgement!

One more contest-like happening to go, I have also entered for the second time in the Holotropic Art Symposium, held in Rumania, and this year it has prizes too.

Fingers crossed and I'll tell you all about that in another post...'