The Wessence and I treated ourselves to a wonderful Christmas gift of the Plein Air, Painting the American Landscape
DVD. We highly recommend all painters, not just plein air painters, get this DVD for their permanent collection. It is airing across the country on various PBS stations, but once you actually see the show, you will want to watch it again and again.

Here's a blurb from their website that describes the series:

Far more than a “how-to” show, Plein Air, Painting the American Landscape is a celebration of our natural world, a visual retreat to our nation’s beautiful places and an exploration of the rich and colorful history of American landscape painting. From the founding of the Cape Cod School by Charles Hawthorne in 1899 and gathering of the Taos Society of Artists a few years later – to location demonstrations by today’s leading landscape artists – viewers will discover the roots of this uniquely American art form and why painting “en plein air” is once again at the forefront of American representational art.

Painters appearing on the series are Matt Smith, Jean LeGassick (who is a hoot!), Kenn Backhaus, the late Charles Sovek, Frank LaLumia, and Ron Rencher.

Don't miss this series!

I am delighted to announce that I will be joining Nichols Taos Fine Art Gallery  as a gallery artist once my two-person show there ends in December. Their faith in my work and their encouragement of me as an artist allow me to embrace this new gallery/artist relationship whole-heartedly.

Taos, New Mexico holds an important and influential place in art history and the current art-world and I'm honored to now be a part of such a venerable place.

Thank you to the owners, Richard Alan Nichols and Larry Egan for the opportunity to show with such an impressive roster of artists.

About this time a year ago, I started a humble little art project called Finders! Keepers? Art Project. The concept of the project is simple:

I paint small, original oil paintings, number and package them, and place the artwork in a public place somewhere on the planet. Then, I trust that someone finds it and makes the decision to either to keep it, leave it, or place it in a new location for someone else to find and then email me at the "Art Tracker" blog I created to tell of their decision.

A couple of posts from the blog to illustrate:

How Art Gets from Me to You

Did you Pick Up One of These?

So here's my dilemma...the finders of the artwork seem hesitant to write in once they find the art (I wish I knew the reasons); and, if they don't write in, the project essentially fails. The project takes quite a bit of work and energy that I might better direct toward my main art career; however, I truly get pleasure from creating these little pieces and planting them and hoping they bring a smile to someone out there.

Perhaps I just need to persevere, give it more time, continue? Or maybe I just need to pack it in?

Over the holidays, I'll mull it over, but if anyone has an opinion, I'd love to hear it.

 

One of my pieces, "Elemental Landscape No. 3" was exhibited at the 39th Annual Juried Show at the Palm Springs Art Musem this December. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, so many thanks to my Dad who took some photos of my piece and a few of the show.

And thanks to the Palm Springs Art Museum Artist's Council who gave me the opportunity to exhibit.

It's a good thing I'm a painter, because I'm a terrible photographer. Most of my pictures of the show were not publishable (argh!), so here's one of the few that turned out.

2007 certainly has brought some new experiences to my art life. On December 6, my husband and I were interviewed on KVOT 1340am, Taos on the hour-long radio show, "In the Artist's Studio" hosted by Ron Usherwood and Rich Nichols.
 
It's funny, I thought I'd be tongue-tied and had minor anxiety over the thought of filling an hour, but truly, the time just flew and by the end, I was disappointed we didn't have more time to chat. I probably sounded like a big dork, but hey, it was my first on-air interview. I'm trying to get a wave file of the interview that I'll post if I get it.

I want to thank Rich, Ron and KVOT for the opportunity to talk about my art and my art-life and for making both Wes and I feel so comfortable. And a big thanks to the listeners -- some of whom came to our show to meet us and see our art. It was a fun experience!

I'm back from my show in Taos at the Nichols Taos Gallery -- a great time, that I'll post about in the days to come.

Are you like me around this time of year? While I feel very introspective as I reflect on the past year's art journey, I'm also getting excited for whatever 2008 will bring.
 
This is the time of year where I determine my goals for the next year and make specific plans to help me to meet those goals, think about new techniques and visions for my paintings, take older paintings off the website to make way for new paintings, get the tax stuff prepared (okay, granted...taxes are not the fun part).

2007 was a blessed year and I look forward to 2008 with optimism. Onwards and upwards to everyone!