Beautiful snow!

We had our first big snow yesterday. I took a walk with my daughter, we laughed and had a wonderful time. There's something about fresh snow fall that makes me feel like a kid.

The days are fairly dark and cold here so I spend a lot of time in the studio painting. Sometime in mid February I'll get spring fever and start day dreaming about my garden. That's when I hit the flower stands at the market so I can paint tulips and daffodils.

Drawing practice

For Juliette Aristides classical painters group we are brushing up our drawing skills. This is an area that I need some work in. Often I am in too much of a rush and get things wrong. So the order of the day is to slow down and correct mistakes befor they can come back and bite me in the a*&!

Catching up

I spent all of last week in a workshop with Geoffrey Laurence. He is an wonderful artist and teacher. Now that my teaching is done this week I am able to hole up in the studio and start practicing some of what I learned. The oranges to pictured will serve as a "before" shot. The after shot will be a painting done in the Renaissance tradition, so it will take some time to complete. In the meantime I hope to keep you updated with the works in progress.

Good News

Three of the paintings I had in the Kaewyn Miniature and Small Works show and two at Beehive Day Spa sold in December, cool!

and...

The landscape of the Skagit Valley I entered was accepted in the CVG 2008 juried show, way cool!

It's really nice to have confirmation that all of the study and hard work I've done this year is beginning recognized.

Last night reading in bed, a feeling of pure happiness hit me. I was reading about the middle ages and planning for a lesson for my little guys art classes when I realized how satisfying and inspiring it is to learn and grow. The idea of the years ahead of working and studying is so exciting.

2008 will be a good year.

one last holiday image

This is the last little holiday painting to share. It's been a lovely Christmas and New Year. Now, though, I'm looking forward to building new skills and reaching new goals, very exciting!!!