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!