![\"Rhapsody,](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Rhapsody-RL.jpg?resize=520%2C578\" "\\"Rhapsody,")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Rhapsody, 6″x6″, watercolor on board with sterling silver, \u00a9Rebecca Latham<\/p>\n
I am a part of a family of artists.\u00a0 My Mother and sister paint.\u00a0 Many of you may already know this.<\/p>\n
We have always shared a studio, or located our studios close to one another since I began painting, drawing, etc. It has it\u2019s benefits.<\/p>\n
Not having extended periods of studio isolation is nice, where otherwise the only person I would be speaking to is the cat (he thinks he\u2019s a person).\u00a0 An impromptu critique of something that\u2019s bothering me, or one of them, can pull a painting out of a dreary stage.\u00a0 ..and then of course, running out of burnt umber and having some to borrow only a few steps away is a lifesaver. There are probably others perks as well, but I won\u2019t go on..<\/p>\n
We’ve, I’ve, been interviewed a number of times concerning this.\u00a0 Reporters, and I suppose the general public, find it intriguing.\u00a0 They often, however, assume there is a viscous nature lurking behind studio doors – there are always questions:<\/p>\n
Do you compete against each other?<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes of course.\u00a0 We often show in the same venues, some of those are competitions or juried exhibits.<\/p>\n Do you get along?\u00a0 Do you sabotage each other\u2019s work?\u00a0 If you and your sister are painting pieces for the same exhibit, do you, like, sneak into the other\u2019s studio and mess up their entry?<\/strong> I would imagine, if that did actually happen, the sharing of or closely located studios would have a moving van parked out front in no time.\u00a0 Honestly, I’d rather set fire to my paintings than damage one of theirs.\u00a0 I love seeing my family in the same exhibits as my work and am cheering them on when they win.\u00a0 ..even if it means I didn’t.<\/p>\n Just a few months ago, my sister skunked me in a show.\u00a0 I was delighted.\u00a0 Really.\u00a0 She needed that boost.\u00a0 She’s been fighting to get back into the world of shows and exhibits, even just managing to complete work, after her serious health issues she has faced. ..and she soared upon arrival.\u00a0 I couldn’t be happier watching that unfold.<\/p>\n I am not saying that I don’t care about awards, or exhibits and shows.\u00a0 I’m honored when something I’ve done is seen to have merit to earn that spot at an opening or accolade, just as I’m honored to have so many people following my work in social media and real life.\u00a0 ..but all of that is dwarfed by the core reasons I do this.<\/p>\n So, sadly for the lovers of great drama, there isn’t family rivalry and fierce competition.\u00a0 But for the record, I have had a painting or two sabotaged when the cat wanted to help.\u00a0 So it really wasn\u2019t malicious, just the curiosity (or playfulness) that killed the painting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rhapsody, 6″x6″, watercolor on board with sterling silver, \u00a9Rebecca Latham I am a part of a family of artists.\u00a0 My Mother and sister paint.\u00a0 Many of you may already know this. We have always shared a studio, or located our studios close to one another since I began painting, drawing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[731,737,111,733,127,729,734,141,167,728,735,246,730,725,727,325,1789,732,358,736,386,390,410,412,726,445,472],"class_list":["post-4685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-stuff","tag-2c-i","tag-burnt-umber","tag-cat","tag-competitions","tag-course","tag-critique","tag-dividing-line","tag-drawing","tag-family","tag-isolation","tag-juried-exhibits","tag-latham","tag-lifesaver","tag-mother-and-sister","tag-moving-van","tag-painting","tag-paintings","tag-periods","tag-rebecca-latham","tag-rivalry","tag-show","tag-sister","tag-sterling-silver","tag-studio","tag-studio-doors","tag-watercolor","tag-work"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Rhapsody-RL.jpg?fit=650%2C723&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4685"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4814,"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4685\/revisions\/4814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI\u2019m sure that would make for a very entertaining read, but..\u00a0\u00a0 Um.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 (I’m never quite sure if they are serious or trying to be humorous – perhaps the dividing line on that is blurred?\u00a0 ..anyway. )<\/p>\n