Down to the wire

It has been a busy week, art-wise, and looks to continue that way. Unfortunately, that means a lot of work for me that I just might not survive!

Case in point, Thursday i had to leave work early to drive up to Newberg to turn in two paintings for the Willamette Valley Lavender Festival. Later that evening I had to scurry around at 9:30 at night to get packing materials to send “Strategy Session” and “Chasing Dark” up to Equine Art 2017. I thought I would turn into a pumpkin! Then before I went to bed, I send in the final images of “Modern Charger” and “At Liberty” to the American Academy of Equine Art. Fingers crossed.

At least one of these endeavors had a pleasant result. One of my paintings for the Lavender Festival got an honorable mention and was sold! I don’t know which I’m more excited about!

Saturday I went to another plein air event in the local Artists in Action “Paint the Town” series. I had a busy morning before I left and so I just grabbed a few supplies and hit the road. This is to explain why, when I got there, I didn’t have yellow on my palette.

I may try to do the cottonwood piece over if I have time.

Capping off all this art is THE BIG EVENT of the summer: Ruth Buchanan‘s workshop! Six months ago when I asked her if she ever did American workshops I never dreamed that she’d have a family wedding over here and would be willing to give a workshop along the way. The Keizer Art Association graciously allowed us to have it there and she’ll be arriving on Thursday,

I’m nervous about the workshop, but probably even more nervous that Ruth will be staying with me. This workshop is on a budget and Ruth graciously said she would stay with me to keep costs down. The only bad part of about this is that my house is now cleaner than it has been since I moved in. And I’m exhausted. This weekend I have dusted, mopped, and even rented a carpet cleaner. The trick is that we just can’t live here for the next four days…