Here we are, off and running again. The studio tour is well underway, and beautiful weather is going to draw lots of people to the Island to enjoy all the wonderful art that's on display. Don't miss out!

It took a while to get back into creating again. Both Paul and I were burned out after Montana, and neither of us had the energy to do much. I finally got this third panel done, and a little graphite drawing of Monty. I have two more outdoor paintings to do for my patron, but they're much smaller and shouldn't take too long to complete.

This was quite the show. Long days, but we learned a lot and met some wonderful people. I even sold a few things! Already making plans on how to do things differently next year.

The date of Western Art Week in Great Falls, Montana is rapidly approaching.
We're almost ready to go. Pictures are all framed and labeled, prints are bagged and tagged. The books are almost all here. Amazon sent them in different shipments, so they are showing up, one box at a time. But we still have two weeks minus a day before we leave, so I am confident all will be here by then.
We still have to go through a 'dress rehearsal', setting up the display panels and hanging pictures, make lists of everything we need to take with us, and then get it all ready to go. 
Our main concern right now, is the weather. It seems to be turning into the hardest winter they've had in some time, so we're hoping there will be no snow storms along the way. We can always leave a day early if things look dicey, but of course, we'd rather the roads stay clear and safe. Prayers out to the weather goddess.

Not happy with this piece so far. I was hoping to have it done in time for Christmas, and maybe that was the problem.  I'm giving it a rest for now, and will get back to it later in the week. Most of the background needs to be re-done, and my attempts to fix it have only made it worse.

The second fence panel is now completed! 3' x 9', latex on plywood. It is quite the challenge working with latex paint, but the finished result was worth it.

Another one finished. This one was challenging, but fun. I'm not used to putting this much detail into the background. I'm really pleased with the way the vase turned out.

Just finished these new commissions. Both are small pieces, so I decided to try out my prismacolor pencils and see what effect I got. They are a challenge, and very different from working in pastels, but I do like the finished results.  I have one more large pastel to do and the horse panel for the fence, then I'll be all set for Christmas orders.
I will be at Camano Community Center on the 17th of Nov for their Christmas bazaar, then off to Snohomish on the 18th the the bazaar there. That is going to be one busy weekend.

Had a great time at Women Writing the West Convention in Walla Walla Washington.
I will now be spending my days eliminating many of the exclamation marks, italics, needless tags and passive verbs from my manuscript. I'm glad I got to this convention before I published the first book in the Navarre Link.
There were lots of great insights and opportunities to speak with people in the publishing business. I hope to go again next year.

Finally, after a few delays with getting supplies together and then playing around with the lay-out, the first fence panel is all blocked in and ready to go. Monday I will get out the small brushes and get serious.