new hope tree story

I got started on the next tree story piece, this one will be on display in my studio at Kennedy Gallery for the month of January where I'll be one of the featured artists and our theme is Inspiration:Hope.

Hope as the inspiration for artwork is one of my personal recurring themes, so I'm happy to be chosen as a featured artist for this. And since this was the next Tree Story that I was going to work on for March's show, it seemed a good fit & a way to preview one of the pieces - you can see more of how hope ties into this work at my Tree Stories blog.

snow in the foothills

We got an unusually cold storm here in Northern California this morning, bringing snow to lower levels than we've seen in many years. Of course this was the morning I was scheduled to go uphill to Auburn and move my artwork from one wall to another... I waited a little to let some roads clear up, which proved to be a good strategy. I got my artwork moved and added a little - you can see more detail by clicking on the image here.




On the way home I had to stop to take a couple pictures:

Noonish
Dec 7, 2009
Newcastle - off of I80
just below 1000 ft

Cold, breaking clouds, snow rapidly melting and falling off the valley oaks in large clumps. I've been dripped on a fair amount but I don't really mind, this snowfall is such a rare sight of beauty this low in the foothills.

back in the studio

Getting back to work again - and back to a previous project - Tree Stories: Chapter Two will be showing in a real-world gallery in March 2010, which means I need to start working on pieces for that show. There will be a couple re-worked images from the first Tree Stories series and several new stories as well. I began studio work on the first of the new stories just last night, collaging, adding texture & even a little pencil work...





Some detail from the new piece, I like how the texture is picked up by the light coming in my studio windows. I'm still deciding if I should preview the new works on my blogs or just leave them for a surprise when I show in March. (I'd post them online then, too, as I know not everyone will be able to make it to Northern California for the show.)

michelle, meet michelle

At the Crocker Art Museum's Holiday Art & Craft Festival for the final day today and my good friend Michelle MacKenzie (left) brought me over to meet her new friend Michelle McKenzie (right), the Crocker Museum store's manager - now I have a good friend times two!

poor doggies

What do artists do with their dogs in the studio? Oh dress them up for the holidays and make them pose for pictures - you'd think these two were tortured regularly but you couldn't find two more spoiled babies...











My little Sparky-dog is wearing the antlers and Michael's dog Charlie is in the cute sweater...

through the trees

I've been working alot in the studio & not always posting, but this is one of my newest, a tall narrow piece on cradled wood panel, which I hope to work on more in the future...



It's called "Through the Trees" and it's 6" wide by 24" long - I'm pretty happy with it for my first real attempt at a long vertical.

commission complete

The commission piece "Faith" is now complete - with text from my original journal entry and the final varnish. (You can click on the image to see it larger.)

Now on to the next project...