Unknown and Impossible
This entry will have a list of good things that have happened with my work since the year’s beginning.
It is not intended to toot my own horn or to anything like that, but to simply share. Skip to the bottom if you just want that.
I had very little going for me when January ended. Sold only one painting at the Coors show (titled “Teepee Ring”, it was one I thought I’d never sell because it is a weird thing to offer. What do I know?). I let myself down and I do not know if I’m invited back. My gut says I will not be.
Teepee Ring - sold at 2025 Coors Western Art Show
The Olmsted event (Olmsted Plein Air Invitational) was on my schedule again this year, but it brings up feelings of “Why did I agree to this? I am going to fail…I can’t do this…” so it’s not exactly comforting. However, it is wonderful to meet and talk with so many really good painters. That is truly the win for me. Plus, I meet wonderful art-loving people involved with the organization that I really like to get to know - people who love art and prove it. I’ve always known that I would have been an art collector and just buy paintings if I had the money (and not try to make them), so I feel a real connection to those who have the means and desire to surround themselves with art. I get it.
I have only a few paintings to take with me to sell, so there’s the ever-present money issue, but I’ve chosen to paint near Savannah, Georgia for the first three days. Sounds good, right? It is, but I did not have the luxury of scouting locations this year and I’m afraid that I’ll show up to very flat land and be completely lost. Last year I had a plan and it worked out. This year, I may simply deal with the nervous stomach with pralines. Plenty, plenty of pralines. (I am kind of excited/nervous in a good way.)
Olmsted runs for about 10 days, so it is quite a commitment. I knew that when I saw an announcement for a workshop…
Sometime last year I learned about a workshop in Charleston with Larry Moore, Douglas Fryer, and Charlie Hunter. I immediately signed up knowing I didn’t really have the money. I haven’t been to a workshop in years, but this one seemed like a good one to jump on. Mark-making and experimenting will be fun, but honestly, I would have signed up just to sit in and listen to them. I learn a lot that way.
There is a single week between Olmsted and the workshop. One week to get home, unclinch my mind, do life stuff, and get supplies together for Charleston. One week to earn a little money for bills.
No sweat. 😐
Sometime in February I entered a few pictures into the Plein Air Magazine bi-monthly competition that I’m sure you all know about.
Well, I just got word (very early word, which is curious to me and makes me cautious to mention this….) that I won something in the February competition. The email said I was a semi-finalist for the big end-of-year award. The thing is, I’m not sure what I won. I know what painting won (Do Not Go Gentle), but I don’t know what. The email didn’t say, and because I’m waiting on a follow-up message saying “Disregard - We accidentally sent out an erroneous message…) I’m holding on to this lightly.
But if it holds true, that will be a very nice, unexpected win for the year.
The painting is “Do Not Go Gentle”
So the good things so far are Olmsted, Hunter, Fryer, Moore workshop, and possible Plein Air Magazine award.
Not too bad! Pretty good, even! This would be a good year, but y’all…remember that single week between Olmsted and the workshop? Well,
Y’all…
Y’all…..
Dear Seth,
It is with great pleasure that, on behalf of everyone at the New Salem Museum and Academy of Fine Art, I extend my warmest congratulations on your selection as a finalist in our inaugural International Painting Competition. Out of nearly 1,200 submissions, your work distinguished itself among an extraordinary group of artists, and we are honored to include your piece "Independence Day" in our upcoming Finalists' Exhibition at NSMA.
What. The. Heck.
I get to attend the opening ceremonies at the New Salem Museum of Art and leave from Massachusetts flying directly to the workshop in Charleston after having been home for only a few days.
I don’t even know what to say, so here is a link to the 50 works selected in this unique, already prestigious event. The painting is “Independence Day”
https://www.newsalemmuseum.com/competitions/nsma-painting-competition-2025
It was way out of my league but I submitted anyway.
I can’t even …
Moving on.
What a great year this has become!
That’s all - except that I got an email today (3/22/25) -
OPA is excited to announce the acceptance list for the 34th National Juried Exhibition
I clicked the link and searched for “Tummins.”
There was a result.
When I decided to try to learn to oil paint (December 2009/January 2010), my first goal was to become a Signature Member of the Oil Painters of America.
With this news, I am only one National show away from finally getting there.
It’s not that it is the grandest summit for painting - there are more prestigious things, I’m sure - but it is what I’ve had my eyes on for a long time. There were a few years when I didn’t submit good stuff because I was working on other things, but this year I submitted something that was rejected last year - and it was chosen.
The painting is “Liturgies”
Can you see a common thread?
Here is why I type out all this stuff - here is what I really wanted to share:
Coors,
Olmsted,
Workshop,
Plein Air Magazine,
New Salem,
Oil Painters of America -
All signposts, standing stones. Not destinations.
I want my good news to be this:
I take you by the shoulders, look at you, and tell you to find something far out in front of you, impossible to reach, and then start walking towards it.
I kept “Independence Day” because it is personal and rippled inside of me. I kept “Liturgies” because it caused a good disturbance within. “Do Not Go Gentle” was a battle to complete, but will have more of a future than I can see now. Something inside says to believe that, although I can’t point to anything concrete.
We must see things on a distant horizon that no one else sees.
We set our gaze.
We set our gaze and swat away distractions, we step around obstacles, and we get up from falling. We just keep getting up. We just keep walking.
And when silence comes, we sit and listen.
