Sunset of Valley Pool

Spring 2023, "Fresh Works", Firehouse Art Center, Pleasanton, CA

Summer 2023, "Lazy Days of Summer ", California Art Club's  Excellence in Traditional Fine Art Competition   The guest judge for this quarterly competition, Amy Scott, Vice President, Research and Interpretation at the Autry Museum of the American West:

This painting has a lovely, minimal composition to it and a serenity in its palate that perfectly captures a late summer evening in LA. I also like the shadows and curve of the slide very much, and the way in which the turquoise color pops with the pink sky behind it, which also has some lovely gradations of light and color. Lastly, I love the fact that the scene is empty; it’s lovely, but also somewhat lonely.

Summer, 2025 Sata Cruz Art League Statewide Landscape Exhibition, Kim Lordier, Judge

First Place: Carolyn Lord, “Sunset of Valley Pool”

Juror’s Note:
“A conundrum. Powerful and subtle. Elegant and raw. Sleek and textural. Why is there a slide on the top of a building? There is an exquisite razzle dazzle here. It is not in our faces, like a broadway play, it is in the juicy paint application, the textural quality that defines the sculptural shape of the slide and rooftop. It is in the poetic play of shifting color in the sky, the gentle glide of that ochery yellow that defines the roof edge as it slides to a deeper gold. This piece is bold, confident, elegant and subtle. Not to mention beautifully presented in its frame.”