This past year I lost my dearest friend who was also my mother.  The bad thing about aging is that you lose so many of those dear ones that you take for granted when you are young.

Before my mother died, I had inherited a lot of costume jewelry.  I created (the first painting of) The Family Jewels and began collecting more jewelry.  I have jewelry from at least a dozen friends and relatives and I bought some on Ebay so, I may have jewelry from some of your friends and relatives.   I of course got my mother's jewelry and a few of these pieces are in this painting.  The Family Jewels will now be a series. 

As a child I used to  love to play with jewelry.  I remember playing with my grandmother's jewelry and feeling that I was a princess with a vast treasure trove of jewels. 

Some of these pieces I can remember exactly how they were worn by loved ones.  I also have enjoyed delving into some of the flappers in the family tree.   I look back at the style and times that these people lived through and how it is sort of represented by the jewelry they wore.

The "jewels" are the lovely memories of people that I love and lives well lived.

American Plains Artists have their annual show - Art of the Plains - September 9th through October 30th, 2011 in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  It was judged by Robert "Shoofly" Schufelt.  The museum is at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road.  I was honored by having two of my paintings juried into this show.  This is one of two shows that I have made it into in New Mexico this year.  New Mexico is really my second home.  I lived there for about eleven years and my oldest daughter was born there.  I lived in Albuquerque.  I especially enjoyed the balloon fiesta and that will be going on during this show.  I won't be able to attend but, I love the fact that I have two paintings in the Land of Enchantment.  The paintings that made it are; A Pat Before the Irons and Catch Pen. 

The top 100 for Paint the Parks is posted on the Paint America website.  My painting is on page 7 and is called Morning Run.  I shipped my painting this morning to Kansas!

This morning American Plains Artists posted the awards and I received an Award of Excellence.   Thank You!

This week I will be shipping my painting Peonies, Rose and Tatted Lace to Santa Fe.  It is a beautiful show.  I linked it to this blog.  What a beautiful time to go to Santa Fe.  When I lived there the Indian Summer was my favorite time of year.  

The last Monday of September, Custer State Park, in South Dakota, has a roundup of the bison in the park.  It starts at 9:30 in the morning but, you better be there early!  We left our home (In N.E. Wyoming) at 4:00 A.M. to be there by the time the gates opened at 6:15.  As the sun was almost up, a large bunch of buffalo were herded right past our place in the car line.  I got a few great pictures there.

We found a nice place along the fence.  This year we were at the South park area.  Last time we were at the North Park area.  There are advantages to both!  I think you are closer to the buffalo in the south area but, I think there was a better show at the north area.  The people are always so friendly while you wait.  We had the couple that was in front of us in our car save us a place by the fence.  We visited with people from Texas, Indiana, Alabama and many other states all visiting around us.  I also met a lovely woman from Belguim.

Next time I will bring some scissors to trim the grass in front of the fence while I wait!

The bison count was about 1,000 and the people count was about 15,000.  Once the buffalo were coralled they let every one walk around.  Then you can get some GREAT close up photos through the fence.  Some years I come to the roundup at about 10:30 or 11:00 to get close up shots (and sleep).

My son Jamison (10) was my travelling companion for the day.  He made us some pretty good PB and J's for brunch.  His comment was " Five hours of waiting for twenty minutes of herding".

Last week I shipped my painting Gifts of Radiant Warmth to Atlanta, Georgia to the Huff Harrington Fine Art gallery for the American Women Artists show.  The opening reception is at 6:00 P.M. October 14th.  I won't be able to make it to this show but have really enjoyed seeing it online at www.huffharrington.com!  This is a VERY nice show!  The show closes November 3rd.

Love is in the Air - Colored Pencil over acrylic wash 

This painting is available at Spirited Pony Gallery in Deadwood, South Dakota.

Greetings to all!   I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.  

The beautiful gallery in Deadwood, Spirited Pony, has closed it's doors.  The gallery in Hill City is closed for the winter and I will pull my stuff out when it reopens for the new fiscal year.  So, I am temporarily without a gallery!  I am, however, in hot pursuit of a couple of very nice ones.  I will be putting some of my pottery on this website in the near future.

I will be having a one woman show at the AVA center in Gillette, Wyoming in October and I plan on entering about forty juried shows this year.

I recently received a painting back from a show that was smashed.   I had wrapped it well but, somehow the package had become a bag of jingling shards.   It made me wonder, did it break on the way there or on the way home?  Did it even make it into the competition?   

Shipping with glass is a pain but, the only thing worse is replacing glass for a no glass show.  I just removed five pieces of museum glass from my paintings to replace it with plexiglass.  This is $200 worth of extremely sensitive glass to store until they return.  I hope the glass makes it!  I know that they make museum plexiglass but, I want a better and more affordable solution.  I want to have colored pencil paintings that are without glass entirely and are archival.

 When the student is ready the teacher(s) will come.  The first article that I found was a demo that shows how paper can be mounted to clayboard.  I ordered the same double stick tack that was used in the demo.  When I got it, it didn’t say archival on the package though it said it in the item description.   Someone posed a similar question about mounting paper to a rigid surface on Colored Pencil Lovers on Facebook.  Mike Menasco, a framer and artist, from Minneapolis, Minnesota began answering questions that were the exact answers I had been looking for.  I think that thread has well over 100 comments.  After a few sour comments from others, I befriended Mike and we continued the conversation.  Here is my account of what he told me. 

  - Mike said that paper should never be permanently applied to a rigid surface if you want it to be archival.  I then spoke to my friend who is an art teacher and her comment was that ‘if you watch the Antiques Road Show, someone will have a poster that is permanently adhered to a surface and because of that their treasure isn’t worth anything’.  Mike also said that if you had to, maybe four small dots of a framer’s glue, in the corners, would be a better solution.

  - The tack that is in the double stick tack will eventually revert to acid.  Spray adhesives are acidic and not archival.  If you have to glue your art to a rigid surface then Elmer’s or some of the framers glues would be better (Not good just better).

  - Mike recommended that I buy a Bainbridge or Crescent 4 ply or 8 ply museum board and use that.  He said that it needed to be framed to the edges of my art.  This of course includes layers of UV varnish over the art.  The aerosol UV varnish, was okay to use.  He said that museum glass is always a better solution so maybe I could put a note on the back that says something like for optimal protection of the work please reframe with museum glass.  The foam backing that is installed by the framers would be adequate to support the museum board in the frame.

  - Another problem that was addressed was hinging paintings on paper to the mats.  I have a pile of paintings that I need to take apart and redo the hinge tape because the painting has shifted.  My solution for the future is to leave 2 ¾” of paper all around my paintings (On paper) so that it fits the frame behind the mats.  This also gives me a margin to put a year and what number of painting it is. 

The solution for me is that I will continue to add museum glass to all of my paintings on paper. I will also create a large share of my future paintings (especially larger ones) on museum quality mat board.  

The title of this was the advice of my chiropractor about six years ago.  My upper back, left shoulder and neck were in constant pain.  I started by using a tripod easel with an adjustable horizontal tray.  This worked well for years then I needed to create some bigger (colored pencil) paintings that needed to be able to slide up and down on my easel.  As I used to be an Architect I drew up some rough plans of what I wanted and my husband built it for me.  I didn't want a smooth well finished easel, I wanted a work horse.  So for Christmas a few years ago I got my easel with Christmas lights strung on it.  I love it!  It is rough and rustic and is starting to show wear but it works well. 

Here is a picture from the front without the drawing board sitting on the tray.  

When we first designed it, my light fit on the top.  However my new light scraped the ceiling so we added another board on the back to compensate for it.  The tray sits on pegs that fit into holes.  This lets me adjust the height that the painting sits at.  I left enough room under to role my chair in and out.  Another change after it was built was that I needed it to go a little lower so we drilled two more holes below the horizontal post and I put the tray in from below or just rest my big board on the pegs.  I don't use this often but it is nice to be able to when I need to.  The width of this easel is 25" and the height is 74".

Here is a detail of the moveable tray, the pegs and the holes.  I used a cup hook to hold my electric eraser from my old architecture days.

After using my new easel I realized that I wanted it to rise and fall in smaller increments and I didn't want more holes in it, so we created a half space bar for that purpose.  It fits in the tray and has a lip on the front and back to hold the board.  The height from the floor to the bottom hole is 24".   The holes are spaced 3" apart.  My easel is very crude but, I didn't care and we had no idea so many people would want to see it.

Here is the front with my small drafting board and a work in process.  My larger board is about three feet square.

Here is the side of the Easel.  The metal piece holds it in place and then lifts in the back in case I want to fold it up and put it in the closet for company.  This is my dining room so the easel is moved out from time to time.  I really like this space and will continue to keep it here.  You can also see the handle of my cutting board under the buffet.  Hope this is helpful.  Well, back to the drawing board. 

I Can't believe it is May already.  We have had such a warm spring that all of the flowers are early by almost a month.  A few weeks ago there were artist's receptions for the Legacy Salon and the Richeson 75.  I wasn't able to attend either one.  I have had artwork accepted into the Colored Pencil Society of America and the Wyoming Governor's capital arts exhibition.  I have been busy working on art for the upcoming western shows.  Here is my latest painting.  It is called Companeros.  This is my back yard and this man, named Enrique, was hired to break some or our horses.  You wouldn't know it but this horse was a knot head for everyone but Enrique.  He had the magic touch.  The second time that he climbed on this horse he had someone hand him his baby girl to give her a ride.

Here is my latest work.  I hate to admit it but, I have been working on it since my last post.  I hate it when everyone tells me how busy they are so I won't use that scapegoat.  I have really enjoyed taking some time to photograph my mother's gardens.  They are amazing even with the severe drought that is here.  I have also photographed a few brandings and ranch activities.  I hope to go to the county fair before it is over to get some more photos.  I hope everyone is having a nice summer in spite of the heat.  I know I am.

The month of August I was the featured artist at the 1875 gallery in Sundance, Wyoming.  This building has held many things over the years.  It was a bowling alley at one time and a hardware store for many years.  The owners have rennovated it (Carefully leaving Mr. Sharps tiny little office) into a gallery, an office space for the museum and a conference room on the ground floor.  The second floor is almost finished for a large class room and an apartment.  I will get to teach a class up there!

My show went amazingly well.  I said goodbye to six of my paintings, a print and a lot of pottery.  I also sold a painting at the Colored Pencil Society of America show.  It has been a great month! 

A year ago I put in for a show in Gillette, Wyoming at the AVA center.  This show will be the month of October. 

Today the Casper Star Tribune, the most popular paper in Wyoming ran a article about me!  Here is the link http://trib.com/lifestyles/weekender/northeast-wyoming-colored-pencil-artist-nationally-recognized/article_2d3aa638-6569-559f-95fa-a53b742cbd33.html

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