More happy trails

See what I mean?8122-trail.jpg                           Trail In Fall – oil on wrapped canvas – 8 x 10 – $80  You can see this and more on Friday and Saturday, November 28-29 at the Three Rivers Arts Center from 10-4. Go East on 198, turn left to cross the Kaweah River on the North Fork Bridge, and the Arts Center is the first building on the left. 

Happy Trails

I don’t know why hiking was so extra fun to me this past summer, but it really was. As I review many of my paintings, I see that my good times on the trail keep appearing.  Here is a new one:monarch.jpgMonarch Trail – 11 x 14 – oil on wrapped canvas – $154 

Thankful and busy

On Friday and Saturday, I will be joining about 10 other artists at the Three Rivers Arts Center for “The Perfect Gift Boutique”. There will be a jewelry maker, a candle maker/weaver, a furniture painter, a photographer, and I can’t remember who else. The hours are 10-4 both days. The Arts Center is in a nice little old craftsman style home that functions as a ballet studio, place for plays, art shows, and other artistic endeavors. (I used it once to teach a beginning drawing workshop.)  The hope this week is to paint about 6 more paintings to take with me, along with putting prices on lots of reproduction prints and card packages. Thanksgiving? I’m too busy to think about that right now. Thankful, yes, very, for lots of things, for how wonderful my life as an artist is, how much fun it is to blog, for the rain coming tonight. Although I won’t be able to photograph my completed paintings in the diminished light tomorrow, I can see that having rain is much more important than my little plans! door.jpgMeanwhile, enjoy a look at this door that I drew a few years ago. It is in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, where they decorate for Christmas using no electricity! Last year around this time, Michael and I had the wonderful privilege of visiting our friend Janey there and got to see this style of decorating in person. I was astonished by how much I loved the place! Californians don’t have much architecture with age, outside of our missions.   Someday I will tell you the story of visiting Alexandria. Today (and tomorrow and the next, et cetera. . .) I am too busy. Thankful, but busy!

A good time was had

img_0427.jpg         img_0430.jpg You can see the easel on the left contains the painting of the new card. It was on the easel for less than 1/2 hour and then it sold!  Lots of paintings sold but not too many, which is good because there is a 2 day show next weekend. What you can’t see in these photos is that there is a yarn store to the left of Sequoia Gifts & Souvenirs. I celebrated today’s good sales by buying some yarn to match what I wore, and then I made a scarf.  Life is Good!

It Is Here!

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This is a Christmas card inspired by the ornament that I painted for the White House Christmas tree last year.  It was printed from an oil painting titled “Snowy Sequoias II” and will be with me at the Holiday Open House today, Saturday, November 22.  (It is for sale, but I’d rather sell it in person than over the internet.) The cards are 5×7″ and blank inside. They are available through my website on the Notecards page https://www.cabinart.net/notecards_new.shtml  $10 for 4 cards and also available through Sequoia Gifts and Souvenir. 

Event on November 22

Here is the ad that is appearing in today’s Kaweah Commonwealth, the weekly paper of Three Rivers, California. And tomorrow, you will see the picture in complete fullness, living color, the Real Deal! open-house-puzzle-flyer.jpg 

What IT is

IT is a Christmas card, but I bet you figured that much. . . you don’t get to see IT yet! This is just a little reminder that IT will be revealed on Saturday, November 22 at Sequoia Gifts and Souvenirs, 41727 Sierra Drive, Three Rivers. Please join us from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. for the annual Holiday Open House! There are discounts, 20-30% off store merchandise, but you’ll have to ask at the store how that works, because I’m just the “Guest Artist”. Doesn’t that sound prestigious?? 😎 Have another little peek:  

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Different times of day

Yesterday’s plan was to finish a few paintings. Instead, I fell into temptation. Here is the result:img_0407.jpgI’m just dying to work on it today, but this is the day for teaching drawing lessons. There’s nothing quite like people waiting for me to keep me on task!!  But I did venture out with my camera just a minute ago to see this scene in a.m. light. It looks quite different, in terms of light and colors, and the leaves are already leaving (sorry, couldn’t resist playing with words!) that blazing torch of a red tree.img_0410.jpg 

Leaf Walk

On Sunday afternoon, Michael and I took a leaf walk. It was about 80 degrees out, which feels very incongruous with fall colors, but the air was clear and the light was good. I have 5000 photos on my computer and countless film photos in my studio, but when it is this pretty out, it is imperative that I take advantage of it. There is always something new to photograph, which means new ideas for painting. If I could paint like my friend Diana Moses Botkin, instead of a camera, I’d have a pochade box! But alas, I rely on my photos. Here are some of the sights we enjoyed:img_0381.jpgThere is one red tree blazing in the distance as we look downstream the middle fork of the Kaweah River, most likely a liquid ambar. (yep, that’s how it is spelled!)img_0383.jpgThe pink leaves are persimmon, the next tree down the fence is pomegranate, (finally got that pomegranate jelly made on Sunday evening, but not from this tree.) and the furthest red berries are pyracantha. img_0397.jpg The brightest trees in Three Rivers are usually Chinese Pistache. Weird name – not “pistachio” but “pistache”, and I didn’t see any in China!img_0400.jpgThis is a sycamore. The photo was enhanced a bit for your viewing pleasure. It was pretty in real life, but not quite this pretty! 

Drawing conclusions?

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Just another little peek for you. And remember, you will see the entire picture on November 22, either at Sequoia Gifts & Souvenirs, 10-5, or right here, same bat time, same bat channel!