It's here, can you believe it!? It's that wondrous time of year and to kick it all off I'm hosting my annual Holiday Open Studio. On Saturday, my dear friend and new assistant, Christine, will be helping me out in the afternoon as I have another commitment to attend. Chris is a delight, so come and say "hello." 

And don't forget there's always hot cocoa, snacks and a door prize! Come enter to win a reproduction giclee of "Christmas Pewter" (image below).

We hope to see you this weekend . . . Saturday and Sunday -- Dec. 1st and 2nd -- 10am - 5pm. 374 Wickaboag Valley Road, West Brookfield, MA.

If you're in the Northeast, don't let the crazy snow get you down. Esmeralda isn't. She and Buddy are thinking about warmer days and time spent at the beach . . . but for now, they'll have to settle for the bathtub.

Keep warm and snuggly my friends!

"Christmas Pewter" is what I'm naming this little 6" x 6" watercolor on clayboard.  It will be one of a few new original paintings for sale at my upcoming Holiday Open Studio on December 1st and 2nd from 10am - 5pm.  

In the meantime I am working on another original Christmas painting, another 6" x 6" of the same holiday greenery just cropped. I thought it was an interesting composition.

Until my next post . . . thank you for stopping by.

I don't know about you, but more often than not my paintings fall into the "eh phase." This is the stage where they are uninspiring and frankly, ugly. There are lots of middle values and it's a challenge to keep going. I even knew before I started this painting, that the "eh phase" was inevitable. It was not the best reference photo to begin with . . . nothing too exciting going on: no spectacular sunlight or shadows, and painting this in a 6" x 6" would make the details small. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because they too, are kind of boring but I knew that I'd have lots of yucky layers to put down before details would emerge.

What I did like about the reference is the quiet, holiday feel of the image and that's where I'm at now: trying to create that feeling and hone some of the details. It may or may not work, we'll soon see, but it's worth a try. However, more often than not, a decent painting will emerge from the "eh phase;" I just need to put in some more time, have a little faith and lots of patience.

Does your work ever enter the "eh phase?" How do you handle it?  I'd love to hear about your experiences.

I hope you all had a great weekend, as for me, it was full of art -- which is always a good thing.  I began Saturday working away on my new Esmeralda calendar. I'm hoping to get them ordered today, although I still have a few more illustrations to do. Yipes!

As for yesterday, I picked up some prints at Giclee of New England in Palmer then headed into Boston to deliver some work for The Copley Society's Small Works Holiday show. It's my first show as a member of the Copley Society and I'm very excited. You can read more about the society here.

As for today . . . I'm in the art studio . . . painting away. It's going to be a good day!  Thanks for popping in.

I think I may be less confused than before and have finally figured out how to transfer my old blog's feed and subscribers to my new blog.  This post will be the first test.  Fingers crossed. I'm excited to start blogging and getting back into my old routine again -- so let's hope this works!

In the meantime, since my last post, (when I was still confused) . . . I had my Fall Open Studio event which was a delight!  Lots of familiar faces and many new ones as well.  So thank you so much for coming out to support me in my little art business . . . I appreciate you from the bottom of my heart.

And that brings me to my upcoming news . . . I'll be having my Holiday Open Studio on Dec. 1st and 2nd from 9am - 5pm, so I hope you can come out and join me. I've been working on calendars and prints and some other new "gifty" items.  

​Until my next post . . . 
3 Cheers to being less confused!