It has been another amazing year together. I want to thank all the people who check my blog on a regular basis, leave heartfelt comments, chat with me via my website and "like" my Facebook posts. It means everything to me to share my work and have an audience to be inspired by.

I had an amazing weekend at the plein air event in Kerrville, Texas Oct. 4-6. It was my first such event and I had no thought but to enjoy painting and meeting other artists and was really relaxed about the whole thing. Believe it or not, I ended up with two awards. 

Albert Handell was the juror for the overall show and chose my work for first place. I also won the Quick Draw event which was judged by Ron Rancher on Friday night. My awards include a half page ad in Plein Air Magazine, so look for that in the December/January issue.

In late August I visited Castle Gallery in Indiana and had the opportunity to meet several collectors. I was back in the area again in October and met a couple who have commissioned me to paint scenes from their favorite restaurant. It was a really historic and interesting interior. And the food was delicious! I'm sketching out ideas now. The plan is for me to paint several scenes and they will choose their favorite... and the others will go to Castle Gallery. I do love painting restaurant interiors!

Castle Gallery will be hosting their annual Holiday Show opening November 30th. If you are in the area, you really should go. Its a wonderful gallery space full of amazing art.

Russell Collection in Austin is featuring their women artists in a show titled "Femme" which hangs in the month of December.

Fine Art Firm (formerly Studio 47 in Vermont) has moved and is finishing their renovations in the hopes of opening late November or early December. Its a very large space they are working with in a historic building in downtown Louisville.

I also had a small painting accepted to the Randy Higbee Gallery

6" Squared annual show in Costa Mesa, CA. It is an amazing place to see hundreds of exquisite 6x6 paintings all framed and hung together. Find them on Facebook for live awards info on opening night (if they do that again this year).

They are all keeping me busy as you can see!

With school back in session, I've been able to paint very regularly again. I've been painting a little larger than usual - up to 24x30. After spending so long on small work for the "Vignettes" show, it feels good to give myself more room. The challenge remains the same though, stopping before it gets overworked!

I am once again debating the "daily painting" gallery websites and have decided to stop appearing on those in the new year. The fact is that I am working larger and aiming for a different buyer. I do not regularly paint the small works - but when I do, those will be shared on my blog and on the ETSY site for my friends/fans/collectors/subscribers. And I can share my works in progress and other images without them appearing in the online galleries to confuse people.

In that regard, you may have noticed I am not sending a regular blog post email anymore. I think that a monthly newsletter is sufficient. If you follow the blog, or are a fan on Facebook, you will see new posts anyway. And my posting isn't as frequent since I am working on multiple larger paintings at a time.