October/November 2017

I spent some time in early October visiting family in New Hampshire, and had the chance to wander through the White Mountain region and parts of Maine.  While the colors in the White Mountains had not yet reached peak, there were still a fair number of very lovely red-leafed trees and a few golds interspersed throughout the landscape, as well as plenty of “leaf peepers” around to enjoy them.  With my sister-in-law as my tour guide, chauffeur and assistant, I was able to capture many wonderful landscapes across the White Mountain region, as well as a number of shots of covered bridges in the area.  A few days later, joined by my brother, we took a Sunday drive to Portland, Maine, where the mid-70 degree weather with partially overcast skies provided a fantastic opportunity to shoot the Portland Head Light.  Afterward, we enjoyed lobster rolls and drinks at a wonderful restaurant along the waterfront.  Look for more of my photos from this trip in the upcoming months on the website.

August/September 2017

The end of the summer art festival season is close at hand.  I have two more festivals for this year, Deer Park (Sept. 9-10), and Art in the Barn (Sept. 23-24).  I will continue to provide monthly updates on the website, including notification of new pieces. 

As autumn makes its appearance, I’m looking forward to discovering some beautiful scenery to capture in new photographs.  I’ll be scouting out new locations over the next couple of months, enjoying the feel of the surrounding crisp air and, hopefully, an abundance of red and gold in the foliage as the season progresses.

Following is more information regarding ArtPrize 2017 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which opens September 20 and runs until October 8.  My piece chosen for this exhibition, Spring Snow – Scene III, will be on display at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, located at 134 Division Avenue North in Grand Rapids, as part of a group exhibition with a title theme of “Landscape”.  As I mentioned in July’s blog posting, ArtPrize is a collaborative exhibition consisting of 182 venues in Grand Rapids displaying approximately 1,500 pieces of art, including paintings, photography, sculptures, video art, performance art, and more! For more information, please check out the ArtPrize website:  http://www.artprize.org/

July 2017

In creating texture with some of my paintings, I have just started to work with crackle past. As the name states, this medium is a paste that create cracks once it is dried.  To see this effect, take a look at the painting entitled “Late Summer Evening Along the Shore”.  As I started working on this painting, I began to envision a summer evening in late August along the Atlantic Ocean just after the sun has dipped below the horizon, but a bit of light remains, sitting on the porch of a beach cottage watching the waves darken as night sets in.  What ideas does it bring to mind for you?  Prints of this piece are available at the prices listed on the site, which can be ordered directly online.  If you are interested in purchasing the original painting, please contact me for pricing.  I am working on more pieces in this style for the series, and plan to have those ready soon.

My next show will be the Lincolnshire Art Festival on August 12 and 13.  It was good to see everyone who enjoyed the wonderful weather and fabulous art at both The Art Center’s Festival of Fine Arts in late June and the Southport Art Festival in mid-July.

One other item to note - one of my photography pieces has been accepted for ArtPrize 2017 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  ArtPrize is dubbed the most attended art event in the world.  From September 20-October 8, 182 venues across the City of Grand Rapids will host approximately 1,500 pieces of art in all mediums to be viewed and voted on by both a jury panel and the public.  If you have a chance to make a trip to Grand Rapids for ArtPrize, it will be a very exciting and entertaining visit!

May/June 2017

The summer art fair season has begun!  Thanks to all of you who stopped by the Arlington Heights Promenade of Art on June 10 and 11.  You were able to see my brand-new tent on its first show outing.  It held up extremely well with the high wind gusts we experienced on the first day of the show.  My next show will be The Art Center’s Festival of Fine Arts on Saturday and Sunday, June 24 and 25.  The festival will be held in Highland Park, Illinois, along Central Avenue and Sheridan Road.  The hours for the festival are 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. both days.  My location is Booth 30, toward the east end of the festival grounds on Central Avenue.  A full listing of the upcoming shows is included here.

At the end of April, I participated in the One of Kind Spring Show at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago as part of the Emerging Artist Market, a new feature to the event showcasing the work of artists who have been in business three years or less.  I want to thank everyone who ventured out in the cold, rainy Chicago weather to stop by and visit me!  This fabulous event included over 300 artists and artisans from the US and other countries.  Amazing talent was everywhere you looked!  If you haven't attended this event in the past, please make sure to do so in the future.  This was the second year for the Spring Show, so it is still building momentum.  The wildly popular One of a Kind Holiday Show will take place December 7-10, 2017 at the Merchandise Mart.  The holiday show boasts over 600 artists from around the world with a wide-array of unique and delightful items available just in time for the holiday gift giving season.

I want to give a big shout out to my next-door neighbor at the One of a Kind Spring Show, Tara Hicks of Taravista Designs.  She makes beautiful jewelry.  Tara is shown in the first photo below (on the right) modeling the “Abstraction” scarf design from my Vida collection.  I purchased the beautiful wrap bracelet in the second picture below from Tara after eyeing it the entire weekend of the show.  If you'd like to see more of Tara’s designs, please click on this link to her website:  http://taravistadesigns.wixsite.com/portfolio  Tara will be back in Chicago area this Fall, participating as an artist at the Naperville Riverwalk Fine Art Fair, which takes place September 16 and 17.

For now, I’ll also leave you with a couple of floral photos taken using my new Lensbaby Composer Pro II optic lenses.  These lenses allow photographers to expand their creativity in composing some very cool photographs with the lenses’ ability to blur and create interesting curves and dimensions.  I’m still learning, but it certainly is a lot of fun to play around with these lenses!