My New Postcard!!

I am very excited!

I just received my printed postcards for the upcoming summer Society of Childrens Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) conference. Sometimes, I get nervous when sending artwork out for print.

This time, I am pleasantly surprised - these look great! I used Overnight Prints.

Dust Bunnies is part of the Idiom Series. I have plenty of these guys under my bed and in corners and do my best to capture them before they multiply.

Dust Bunnies has won several awards, including a Certificate of Merit from the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (SILA West) and an Honorable Mention for the 2013 OC Fair Visual Arts. I will be back at the OC Fair for Judge's Night this Thursday, July 25.

I got artwork accepted in the OC Fair!

I just dropped off artwork to the OC Fair! This year's Fair is on from July 12 - August 11 in Costa Mesa. This year, the competition's tighter now that the competition is open to all of California.
The artwork that got in is called "Dust Bunnies" - a part of the Idiom Series.

Congratulations to my fellow artists and photography students for getting work into this tough juried competition!  I can't wait to see everyone's work hanging on the walls at the OC Fair. See you there!

Artwork at the OC Fair!

For years, I have been encouraging - and even insisting - that my students should enter their best work in the Orange County Fair. After going to the OC Fair this year, I am thrilled to find over 60 of my students' work is hanging in the photography area in the Visual Arts building. Many have earned medals.

So then, I decided to submit some of my artwork to this juried exhibition. The cool thing is that millions of people file through the exhibits and see the work. It's not easy to get in. Only about 1 in 5 photography submissions make it past the jurors, while 2 in 5 fine art submissions make it in.

So here is my work that made it in:

Fat Cat  and Racing Dachshunds

It's a trip to hang out and overhear what people say while passing by the artwork. This happened accidentally; I happened to be grabbing for my camera and watched people react. Some folks took pictures with little smart phones, and most smiled and laughed - which made my day. One guy said, Oh, I love wienies!! I'd totally buy this if it wasn't $600.00!"

Prints are available through my web site, though - with the watermark removed:

http://www.laurahoffmanart.com.

That's me in front of my artwork at the OC Fair

Ted looking at the art.

After spending hours at the Visual Arts galleries - there is so much to see - we headed over to my next favorite fair hang-out (besides the wine bar - recommend!), the livestock area. Living in Orange County, you rarely get a chance to get up close and personal to beasties, unless you get to the fairs. I love animals, drawing and painting animals, telling stories about animals, and photographing animals.

So this was one of the things that bothered me at the OC Fair - they had these guys right next to the bacon stands.  Even chocolate-covered bacon. I won't tell them.

Get to the OC Fair, if only to see the artwork. OK, the food is amazing also and most of it is sinfully fattening - but you'll wear it off. The rides are a blast also. So are the concerts - and don't miss the wine bar, seriously.