"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!

Where pumpkin spice is everywhere! I don't know about you, but I don't mind it all that much. It's like being around evergreen scents in December. 

Anyway . . . I've been quite absent from my blog (that's quite an understatement) but I am kicking things up a notch and getting back on track. While I may have been derelict in posting, I have been hard at work in the studio and will be posting lots of new paintings. I've kept up with my Instagram and Facebook accounts, so if you follow me on social media, you've probably seen what I've been up to. If not . . . you're in for some brand new paintings! (And if you'd like to follow me, just click on the links on the bottom right of the screen as you scroll down).

Thanks for hanging in there with me. I'll be having my annual Fall Open Studio on October 20th and 21st. So if you're local, it would be great to see you!

I think I mentioned to you that I recently got my first iPhone (I know, crazy). Well I love it. And I love Apps that make my life easier or prettier or both. One of those apps is Canva. You can create beautifully designed ads or postcards or Facebook covers or whatever your heart desires, all on your phone!! Who knew? (Probably the world and I’m just the last to know). It’s phenomenal! The templates are lovely with tasteful font pairings and filters. In seconds you can have an artfully designed post for Instagram!

Below are are a couple of examples that I recently created. If you haven’t checked out Canva I strongly suggest you do, especially if you have a business and want to design your own ads. You can even create items for print. Have fun!

​Welcome to my new blog! I recently decided to switch my blog over to my website account so everything would be in one place and more unified. My apologies if this has caused any confusion. 

But enough of that, let's get on with business . . . 

​I thought I would share some photos from the Belchertown Art Walk last weekend. The Quabbin Art Association set up a "meet and greet" in the Town Hall where many of our members demonstrated their crafts and had items for sale. I'm happy to report we had a great turn-out!

​Below is a little slide show of a few photos from the event.