As you know my next show at Matthews Arts in Bellevue is this coming July in the middle of summer. My last show there was two years ago in February where we were in the middle of a cold winter much like now. Having said that I'm going to bring along two or three paintings from last time as the "foot traffic" that month wasn't to good and I want to make sure that as many people possible get a chance to see them.

  As far as new work goes, look to see my love of hiking trails to set the tone for this show. I'm working on a painting of a footbridge that I came across on the Rachel Carson Trail and decided to start going through all my other photos that I've taken out in the woods as well.

  I've got a bunch of my "bread and butter" 18"x 24" canvases ready to go and I'm going to start deciding what paintings are going to be painted on them. I've taken some great photos of things I've encountered out there with some interesting patterns of light falling on them. To meet this end I'm going to be taking my first weeks vacation from my day job as fast as I can.

  On the other end of it I'm going to try to promote this show to the best of my ability to get as many people there the night of the opening reception which will be Friday July 2nd from 6:00 to 9:00 P.M.

  The thing I'm looking forward to the most is having a painting demonstration of how I go about doing my artwork. There will be no charge and it will be on either the first or second Saturday afternoon that month. I plan on making it entertaining so even if you don't paint please try to make it there once the the date and time is set.

  It's only early January now but I know that July will be here before I know it so I've got to keep working at it each day. I'll keep you updated as to how things are coming together. That's it for now, I've got some painting to do!

  Here we are at the start of another new year, another new decade as well. I'm looking forward to good things this year and I'm sure you are as well. We are still facing economic problems and a sense of uncertainty is in the air. If you're like me, these first few days of January are used to reflect back on the year before so here goes mine.

  I started out the year with a display of my paintings in the window next to Classic Chevy in my hometown of Bellevue and got a good bit of positive feedback from those who saw it. Going into summer I was able to follow it up with another display in my hometown at the Muddy Cup coffee shop. This led to the years highlight of me showing my work outside at the Summer Solstice Fair and being able to tell people that you can see more of my work right down the street at the Muddy Cup. I love it when a plan comes together! I also showed at the Greenstone Church in the summer where I got a sale (thanx again Marion!) and meet another artist who sometime this year will be helping me reach a whole new market. I closed the year by showing at a vendor fair in Bayne Library.

  Looking back I'd have to say that I got the hang of exposing my artwork in my local community so with that under my belt I'm looking to expand those efforts in 2010 and hopefully increase my sales which leads me to the not so good in 2009.

  Do to the economy, three collectors decided to postpone purchasing artwork off of me and of course I completely understand. My hope for this year is we get over this recession and working people have more cash to work with so that they can do more than just barely keep a roof over their heads. All I can do as a small (very small) business owner is keep my art affordable and keep my policy of accepting no interest payments. The other thing I've decided to do is to keep my prices the same as last year since these three collectors have their prices locked in anyway. It's all about integrity and not being greedy and I'm going to say that if big businesses and banks had more of that maybe we wouldn't be in this mess now.

  I'm going to close by saying that lets all stay positive and keep praying. The country has rebounded from this in the past so it can do it again. Keep your goals in mind and take it one day at a time.

  Yesterday I was one of the vendors at Bayne Library where they had their annual vendor fair. I got there early and got set up and introduced myself to some of the other people. I'm going to say that there was about fifteen of us altogether. I also got to meet some of the "Friends Of The Library" who run the events there and some of which went out of their way to help us carry our stuff in. We were all in place by 11:00 when it was open to the public and assumed that after lunch people would start coming in but I hate to say that it just didn't happen.

  I'm going to say that there was no more then twenty people the whole day. Some of which did purchase small items from some of the vendors. I myself got a nice custom painted ornament for the Christmas tree. The people at the library told us that they promoted the event well and I trust that they did, but the turnout was not there. One women even went online and "twittered" about the event but that didn't bear any fruit as well. Some of the vendors started leaving early in the afternoon.

  I'm left to wonder what the problem was. How much of it is do to the economy and how much was due to people feeling that they had better stuff to do with their day. I don't know myself but I kept positive and looked at the bright side that my entry fee along with the other vendors will be used to help with the library. I also got to meet the women who e-mailed me about the event and she told me some of the history of the building. She also said that I can come up one day and she can show my some of the local newspapers they have from back in the early nineteen hundreds. I plan on taking her up on that some day.

  I was able to pass out some business cards so good things might happen down the road for me. Having said that I'm going to close by saying that living is giving and if you have some time to help with local cultural events and buildings in your area please do so.

  We went back inside where the lady pointed out some of the stained glass windows on the sides and what they symbolized. She then pointed out the two statues on either side and it turns out one was a women saint because the architects wife had the same name, nice guy!

  Once we were inside the main area of the church, the women went over the stained glass windows on each side and what they symbolized. What caught my eye at this point was the painting that could be painted showing all the colors from the windows reflected on the gray columns. I wish I would have taken my camera but I can always get a nice photo of the effect on the next sunny day after mass.

  The interesting thing about the main area of the church as well as the sanctuary is the changes made when the church was renovated for the centennial about four years ago. The lady went on to say the last time the artwork was repainted in the seventies, changes were made then also.

  Once we got up in the sanctuary I was able to get up close to the paintings on the sides and was surprised to see how thick some of the brushwork was. What looks like thin layers of paint from the pews actually has some texture to them.

  The tour ended in the sacristy room where I ended up calling it a day since I've been in that room many times going back to my time as an alter boy. I'm glad I went and definitely do need to get some photos of the light coming through the stained glass as it will make a beautiful painting. I'll let you know when I take the photos and when I start on it so stay tuned!

  As you know, I've been focusing on my "Marc Andre Fleury" painting in the studio. I wanted to finish it by the end of October but the "fans" in the stands are proving to be a challenge. What I'm aiming for is for the viewers eye to be led right to the goalies mask. The challenge is that they can't have much detail because they are in the background as well as behind glass. The other thing is that they need to appear to be in some kind of motion with their body proportions right.

  The funny thing is that with the exception of the goalie mask detail, Marc Andre himself will be pretty easy. I have all the basic colors down so it's just a matter of working up to the final layers of paint and controlling the edges as I do. The rest of the painting consists of the net, the 'boards" with some sponsor logos, and of course the ice. I'm going to keep this painting on the easel the rest of November to keep making progress on it and just have the attitude of when it's done it's done. I think I have something special going and I don't want to to rush it.

  In other painting news, I'll be showing some of my work at a vendor fair in the Bayne library on November 21st. I got an e-mail from a women who saw my artwork on display this summer and remembered me. She's a member of the "Friends Of The Library" committee that meets on a regular basis to look after the needs of the library and recalled seeing my painting "Bench At Bayne Park" that has the library in the background. I can't wait to bring this painting with me and have it on display inside the library itself. I feel that the library is where this painting belongs so that others can enjoy it for generations so we will see what happens. Once again it's on the 21st this month at the library and I believe that it runs from 11:00 A.M. to 4:00 in the afternoon and I hope to see a lot of you local people there!

  This year has been pretty good as far as my artwork goes. I was able to to have two displays in my hometown as well as show my work in two craft festivals as well. New people got to see my art and it led to some purchases in spite of the economy.

  On the other side of the coin it has been a bad one for my friends. One lost her Mother and another lost his Father. One who is a common friend amongst us lost his home to fire with his dog inside. I found out that two Fridays ago a man in my apartment building decided to end his life at age fortynine. This Friday I was at the funeral home once more for another friend in his early fortys after being in and out of the hospital all summer.

  What I found is that you really do need to control the only thing you really have control over, your mind. You have to live in the present moment and most of all, be willing to change your plans. This was reflected in how I would go over to a friends house after their loss and after a bad day at the day job only to return back home to find a message from another friend. At the end of the day no matter how drained, tired, and frustrated you get, you know that you did the right thing be being there for other people. I knew that if I got a half hour a day at the least on a painting that it would become finished if I was patient, and that the art came ahead of the website activities.

  I feel that things are in order again and that I became a little stronger emotionally and that can only help me in the future.

  Last night I delivered my finished commission "Martha's Cat" to my customer at her home and that was the good. It was nice to once again feel the joy from someone who is very satisfied with the artwork they trusted you to do for them. The funny thing was that her two cats including the one I painted came walking up to the painting as it was propped up against her couch like it was another real cat! They quickly saw that it wasn't and walked around and about as I talked with their owner. She told me how the cat that I painted came from a breeder in Ohio and that the cat meowed for two hours the whole way back home. She said she was going to take the painting to work to show her animal loving friends and even fixed me up with a bag of cat food for my cats as I left. It's great to be an artist!

  The bad, unfortunately I hate to say is my day job. Let my start right from the get go that I AM GRATEFUL THAT I HAVE ONE and I mean that, but at the same time it is affecting my art production and business efforts. My job is physical in nature and often I'm left to do the work of two or three for all but the last hour of my shift, sometimes without a lunch. I finally told my supervisor that I am going to start shopping my services around as I'm not happy with my situation but gave him my word that I will still be my professional self until that happens.

  And now the ugly, updating my website. I used to be almost robotic in blogging three times a week and in putting out my newsletter, but again when you're out of gas the production of the artwork itself comes first over the website. I got back to the blog yesterday, and I look forward to making a new newsletter in a couple of days. Be sure to check it out and see how life plays out for me in the next few months. As always, take care and have a great day!

  It has been a long, long time since my last blog post. I've had personal situations involving my closest friends and a day job that has worn me out. What I did focus on was the art itself like any serious artist would do. Having said that I'm happy to present to you my latest work Martha's Cat.
 
  This is a commissioned work that came about from me showing my work in my hometown during it's "Summer Solstice" event where artists where allowed to set up in the towns main parking lot. About an hour or so into the day a women asked me if I did pet portraits and I said yes. She showed me the perfect photo of her cat and I said that I would love to do it for her. I worked on it for the better part of this summer and love the way it came out. My hope is that she will show it to her animal loving friends and they will want one of her own!

  Now the focus goes back to my "Marc Andre Fleury" painting. I hope to complete that one by the end of October right when Pittsburgh gets "hockey fever" again as the Penguins start another season. In keeping with my game plan of showing my work in my hometown, I plan on showing it in the sports collectables store right next to the window I had my display in this spring. 246

  Speaking of my hometown, it looks like I will be having another show at Matthew's Art Center sometime this summer. I'll keep you posted as the details emerge. I want to really promote this to have the best exposure of my work possible. I might even have a painting demonstration on one of the Saturdays like my mentor Bob Huckestein did during his show. That was a great afternoon for all and I to will do it free of charge also, just come on down!