"A Stop Along PCH" © 16 x 20

Saturday evening, we attended the opening reception of the "On Location in Malibu" exhibit at the Weisman Museum at Pepperdine University. This painting of Frank's is part of the exhibit. The show is a collection of paintings by Artist Members of the California Art Club and all the paintings are from the Malibu area. It is a fabulous exhibit and we encourage you to see it before it ends on August 9th. It is a collection of marvelous paintings by some of the best artists in Southern California. We had a wonderful time at the reception and it was very well attended. It was fun to visit with some of our artist friends and to enjoy the beautiful weather and atmosphere of the Southern California coast. I love the "glow" that Frank captured in this painting which is typical of the beautiful light conditions in Malibu.

"Autumn Song" 6 x 8 © SOLD

This is a small painting I did a few months ago based on a scene from the Santa Ynez valley. It sold this past weekend at the Sierra Madre Art Fair. Frank and I both exhibited paintings at the show and, as usual, had a very pleasant time. The Fair was on Saturday and Sunday. We have been doing this annual show for several years now and always have a nice time even though it is a lot of work. So many of our friends and fellow artists stop by and it gives us a chance to visit with people that we only see once a year at this show. Thank heavens the weather wasn't as hot as they predicted. We have had years where the temps were over 100. (Not fun when setting up heavy equipment and paintings!). After spending yesterday unpacking, I am ready to get back to the easel.

"Gifts From The Garden" 12 x 12

A couple of weeks ago, Frank and I were invited to participate in a paintout and show at the beautiful Descanso Gardens in LaCanada, CA. In preparation for the show, I painted two still life paintings of roses and one painting of a scene from Descanso Gardens. Unfortunately, on the day of the paintout and show, I got sick and couldn't attend. Frank participated though and had a very pleasant weekend painting with friends. The weather was beautiful and everyone had a nice time. I wish I could have been there but maybe next time! Since I didn't have any real roses to paint from, I used some photo references to paint this painting. Although I like to paint from real life, I think this one turned out quite well. It was fun painting this one because I hadn't painted a still life in quite awhile. For me, it's good to mix things up a bit and paint subject matter that I haven't done in awhile because it prevents uninspired "tunnel vision".

"Hop Sing Tong Benevolent Association" - 11" x 14"

Several weeks ago, Frank and I spent a lovely day participating in a "paintout" in Chinatown. The paintout was sponsored by the California Art Club and there were several other artists there performing their "magic". The weather was perfect and as you can see, there was no lack of color in our surroundings. All day long we were surrounded by shoppers , hustle and bustle. Chinatown is doing a lot of publicity, trying to attract business to their area and one of their ways of doing that is to have performers in this courtyard on weekends. In addition to having a very pleasant painting day, we were entertained with music and several acrobatic shows. They were excellent performers and some of them were scheduled to perform in Cirque du Soleil. The sign on the building with the flags said, "Hop Sing Tong Benevolent Association", hence, the title for this painting. At the end of the day, all of the artists lined their paintings up in front of one of the shops. We were treated with Chinese food and wine and a few sales were made. I think Frank truly captured in his painting the festive feeling of the day.