BY PATRICIA DUFF
June 5, 2013
Congratulations to Whidbey Life Magazine photographer David Welton for being juried into the Edmonds Arts Festival, which runs Friday, June 14 through Sunday, June 16 in downtown Edmonds.
In the previous four festivals, Welton has had a total of five images accepted, while this year he made it in with three photographs, which is rare as the photography division of the festival is competitive.
“This year I selected three scenic images with no knowledge of the judge, even though ‘people photography’ is my forte,” Welton said.
“I felt I had nowhere to go but down, after winning first place, so what the heck!”
The Edmonds Arts Festival has grown to be one of the largest in the United States since its founding in 1957.
“I have been very impressed, humbled and inspired by the quality of the exhibitions, and have thought to myself many times, ‘I wish I had taken that picture,’” Welton said. “There have been many images superior to mine, even when I have won first and third place.”
His favorite entry this year, he said, is the image of the “Castle of Chillon” made from a 1989 black-and-white negative.
“I never was able to make a proper print during 10 or 12 trips to the darkroom,” Welton said.
“I got a new scanner late last year, scanned the badly scratched negative, and processed the image in Photoshop last fall. It took about 15 minutes and no smelly chemicals were involved. It is perfect for black and white.”
He was not impressed with the colored slide version of the same image.
“Mukilteo Lighthouse Sunset” was taken during his commute to Lynwood, where he works as a cardiologist at the University Of Washington Medicine Regional Heart Center-Alderwood.
“The sky really looked like that,” Welton said of the rainbow candy-colored skyscape.
The final photo shows the scene below the 520 Bridge on Lake Washington near the arboretum (See the image pictured at the top of the story). The photo, he said, depicts the endurance of nature despite human interference.
“There are no people in these photographs, but their presence is suggested by construction over centuries.”
Congratulations are also in order for two other Whidbey Life Magazine members (who let us know about their entry into the show), including painter Pat Brookes and metal artist Jandellyn Ward. Brookes had two pieces accepted.
“The pieces I submitted this year are special to me because I have been working in oils for two years and these two paintings had special meaning, “Brookes said.
The nest depicted in her painting, “Empty Nest,” had been sitting on her front porch for two years when she realized it would not last forever and she’d better paint it.
“It was unique to me because I found it under the heather; it was made from the cedar bark of a nearby tree,” the painter said.
“Touch of Asia” features a raku teapot that she gave to her husband years ago and a hellebore that she received as a gift from him. Although Brookes has entered the Edmonds Festival before, this is her first entry in four years. Not so for Ward, who, with her husband Johnathan, shows her work through her Winfield Designs at shows and fairs around the region and has been invited back to the Edmonds show for the past 10 years.
“We had the honor of being chosen to do the field signs a couple of years back, which they will use for years to come,” Ward said.
The Wards create metal home and garden art from new and recycled steel. They own a plasma cutter, which makes it easier to implement certain designs.
“We have recently added fused-glass elements to our work, which we are now creating at our studio in Greenbank, as well,” Ward said.
The Edmonds Art Festival calls for art in February, and the judges are named in the brochure.
Entries are emailed in April and curated in May. Winners are announced when the show is hung prior to the festival on Father’s Day weekend.
For more about the festival visit the website here.