A Weekend of Surprises

The 40th National Illinois Watercolor Society Exhibition
was held at the Next Picture Show in Dixon, Illinois in May, with the reception held on May 4th. 
Lenin Delsol was the juror of Selection and Awards.

Congratulations to Dave Becker for receiving the Award of Excellence II for his painting "Jammin", here with Tony and fellow artist, instructor, and show judge Lenin Delosol.

"Jammin"

I received an Honorable Mention for my painting "Gone But Not Forgotten"". 
​I found out later that I also received the People's Choice Award for the painting.

The highlight of the day came as quite a surprise to me. Tony Armendariz had attended the
AWS award reception in New York. Unfortunately I was unable to be there.

Unbeknownst to me, Tony had a little chat with Mr. Antonio Masi, President of the AWS, and asked
if he would write a little congratulatory letter to present to me at the upcoming Dixon show,
along with my official AWS certificate. It was a generous, heartfelt gesture on Tony's part
​for which I will ever be grateful. 

"Hey, I got one too!" Tony proudly displaying his own AWS Signature certificate.
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It was a great afternoon, though I hadn't been feeling well for a couple of days beforehand. I decided to go to Urgent Care the next morning, where I was diagnosed with pneumonia. It was definitely
​a weekend of surprises!