For a long time I’ve known that October would be a busy month; the WSO convention, Open Studios of Beavercreek, and my Kentucky trip were back-to-back this month. With recent events, however, things have gotten a little busier and, well, a lot harder.

Still, the show must go on, and it certainly did this week.

Tuesday evening I went out to Hillsboro for the opening of the Hillsboro Plein Air Plus opening at the Walters Cultural Center.

While my paintings did not receive any awards, my painting (seen here) “Sunday Brunch” was hung next to the Grand Prize and 1st prize winners: “Now We’re Cookin'” by Sandra Pearce (I painted with  her at the event and rode down to WSO with her… her greatness will surely wear off on me!) and a painting by Steve Kleier (sorry Steve, I can’t remember the name.) The event even got a great write up in the Oregonian! After the event Sandra invited me out with her friends and we had great Mexican at a little place just down the street, before I headed back home. I felt like I pumpkin as I didn’t get home until 10pm. Unprecedented in recent history.

But I am without Finn this week (he is enjoying a vacation with my Mom.) Frankly, I really miss him. I almost don’t know how to cope with things like cleaning my plate without him. He’s coming back tomorrow (Mom too…) and I’ll be glad to have him back, even if only for a few days before I head off to Kentucky.

What free time I had Wednesday and Thursday will filled up with getting paintings matted and framed for the Open Studios of Beavercreek show this weekend. Today (Friday) was the first day and I was delighted to see several friends and fellow artists swing by. I even sold some of my recent, small-size, painting-a-day challenge paintings. It’s a good feeling.

After the Open Studios, I went for a hike down at Canemah (without Finn… I almost didn’t know how to do it). The madrona berries have ripened, so the big scene there was the cedar waxwings flocking to devour the berries.

A few robins even got on the action. The birds are so noisy, and if you get close enough you feel like you are getting rained on as the birds shake loose the berries. But those berries certainly don’t go to waste!

Fall is certainly dogging our heels now. The leaves are turning, and the light is going; even at 6:00 in the evening it’s now too late to take good pictures.

The light was fading on this… but the blur and spider webs gives it a fun, funky look.

I hope to see you all tomorrow.

Today I spent the largest part of the day running errands, mostly involving art. And when I dropped off the painting to go to Medford, it was a little like seeing a a child go off to the first day of kingergarten. Here’s hoping that nothing goes wrong and it gets in (occasionally something breaks or there is some other kind of problem and a painting is held back from the show.) Fingers (and toes) crossed.

After dealing with the must dos of the day, I headed out to SEO to play with the horses. I hadn’t realized how long it had been since I had been out there until I noticed how many of the horses were new. I played with an absolutely adorable new arrival named Jesse and cuddled a little with my favorite long term resident Fritz (why hasn’t he been adopted? He’s wonderful!

I also admired a new addition to the barn… Tumbleweed. You can see her, sitting in the paddock behind one of the owner’s horses, Chevy.

It’s finally cool enough that Finn can ride around with me on errands, and on our way home I decided to stop at a new area and explore. It’s marked as a nature area under restoration, but there was a trail and no “No Tresspassing” signs, so Finn and I headed off.

We saw a red tailed hawk and rabbits (it wouldn’t surprise me if they had something to do with each other…) as well as heard a variety of birds including a spotted towhee.

But the real star of the show was the sky. It was just turning into dusk and the sky went from overcast, to sunlit, to blazing during our hike.

I got home and did do some painting. I have been working on this painting of the duck family I saw earlier in the month during the Hillsboro Plein Air Plus.

I’m happy with how it is progressing, but I’m also tired, so I cheated a little. I just a little extra background and whipped off this painting for my “painting of the day.”

Speaking of Hillsboro, I hope you have marked your calendars to attend the opening of the exhibit!

And tomorrow is OFFF!

So yesterday I forgot to post my painting. I did it. I took a picture. I got all my images together to create a post. And then… I guess I wandered off. Now you’ll get two days together!

Sunday

Other than a meeting, I did not have anything too exciting going on Sunday. I did a bunch of errands and then went for a hike. In the first few minutes, I saw a nice red tail hawk.

I also had another item of interest on this hike: Edward. I had AirBNB guests this weekend, and they had a lovely Spring Spaniel named Edward (they also had an 18 month old girl, but I never got her name, and who cares about her anyway…)

As you can see, Edward enjoyed our hike too. Finn, as though in competition, was especially photogenic.

When we got home, I sat down and used one the reference photos above to do my daily painting.

Monday

I just worked today, took the dog for a walk, and went to Weight Watchers (minus another .8) Frankly, I’m tired and didn’t feel like painting. But I wanted to give it a try…

Okay, the hawk needs some serious work, but I am really excited by the technique I used for the sky. My thought for this was to devote some feeling to the air under the wings of the bird… and I really like the way that part feels. But if I did a larger version, the actual raptor needs some attention.

Last fall I was driving home from the Watercolor Society of Oregon convention in Bandon, Oregon, when i saw an egret in a field/pond beside the road. I stopped and took some pictures

Last winter when it was so cold I did some ice painting and came up with this background.

But I NEVER would have though of putting them together until I saw “Snow Egret” by Tommer Gonser (click here to see the painting).

In order to get this just right I had to buy the white acrylic paint. And it’s taken me months to decide if it’s ready. But I think, with tonight’s coat of paint, it’s ready.

Tomorrow I will take it out in light and get a good shot of it, then I will submit this as my “critique piece” at the upcoming WSO convention. If that goes well (or I get some good feedback), I’ll probably enter this piece in the Aqueous show in the spring.

Today painting inspiration was thin on the ground and it took me until the last hours of my day to get to the drawing board. Things like grocery shopping, laundry, and putting out my first ever newsletter sucked up my time.

But when I finally sat down, my morning hike with the dogs came back to me and I decided to paint this photo of a lovely downy woodpecker I saw on our hike.

One of my favorite bird artists is Lori Presthus because she does exquisite calm backgrounds. I resolved to try to mimic her style for this painting.

It’s harder than it looks, but considering how late in the day this is… I’m going to take it.

In addition to my painting a day challenge, maybe I’ll enter this in my vague idea for a “Birds of Canemah” series. So far I have my owl and this… but it’s a start.

I took the reference photo for this near Cascade Head on the Audubon Society of Lincoln City’s monthly trip.