Congratulations!!!

Russ Mackensen's painting "Mine Eyes Have Seen" was accepted into "Tell Us A Story: 2011 Summer Group Exhibit" at Segil Fine Art in Monrovia, CA. 
Show dates are June 18, 2011 to August 20, 2011. 
Not only was the work juried there was a requirement of a 100 word "Story" about the piece, his was:

My Eyes Have Seen, what you may wonder. Have I seen death in my family, the destruction of my home or terrorists running my country? I’ve seen a life alone without my husband and children. I’ve seen the daily struggle to survive in a land that is not hospitable to a widow. I’ve seen foreigners looking at me and wondering who I am and how pitiful I appear. All this I have seen, but now I see strength and resolve to overcome all this because I am a proud woman, a strong woman because My Eyes Have Seen.

Stephanie Neely news

Stephanie was juried into the Art League of Hilton Head's Biennial National Juried show. Her oil pastel "Midnight" took first place in pastel. Congratulations!!!!!! Stephanie was also accepted into the International Guild of Realism and the OIl Painters of America.

On a side note it is interesting that in some juried shows there seems to be no distinction between the soft pastels and the oil pastels, even though the painting is submitted as an oil pastel.