Here we are on New Year's Eve. 2014 really flew by in a blur of have to's and challenges and, thankfully, fun and wonder as well. It is a cold, windy day here in southwest New Hampshire, and the wood stove is struggling to keep the house above the low 60s. It is quiet and peaceful though, which I so appreciate after the busy and full holiday season.

Things started getting busy for me when the holiday craft season arrived. It is a lot of work to do inventory, replenish supplies, pack and set u...
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2014 was not a great year for me to find painting time. There seemed to so many other things that required my time and attention that I only completed three paintings, and almost finished a fourth. I wish I had had more time, but life gets busy. My 15 year old son runs in cross country and track at school, and spent the spring and part of the summer in PT to regain strength in his leg muscles after a major growth spurt. My 16 year old daughter took driver's ed over the summer. We live in a sm...
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I was really excited recently when I received an email inquiring about my original paintings that are currently for sale. I had put a lot of work into updating my website, using social media, and adding Pinterest buttons to my website. I thought maybe this new to me person had discovered my work through those efforts.

As you will see in the email thread below, it seemed pretty exciting, and at one point, nerve wracking, when I realized I had missed one of her responses for over a month. ...
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With spring seeming very reluctant to arrive this year, and snow still covering my perennial garden beds, I spent my free time recently in the somewhat tedious work of updating my art website again. Yola, the company whose online tool I use to build my site recently added pull down menus as a template option. I have been wanting pull down menus instead of the submenus I had, so I made the leap and changed templates. It took way more time than I hoped to get everything lined up and looking rig...
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I had many exhibit opportunities this year, both new to me, and annual favorites. There have been changes to favorite exhibits as well, which has created some challenges.

In July I was asked to exhibit two of my prints in the Alstead, NH 2013 Sestercentennial Celebration Art Show at the beautiful Shedd-Porter Library through early August. I had driven by that library so many times, but never stopped in until I dropped off my prints. I couldn't believe how stunning the architecture was. Ac...
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In my blog post in early July, I wrote about a variety of challenges that were creating chaos at the beginning of the summer. It was not a great start to such a wonderful time of the year. Thankfully, things have calmed down, and there have been opportunities for nice gatherings with family and friends. I even finished a painting that I started quite some time ago.

In mid-July we made our annual trek to the Greyfox Bluegrass Festival on the Walsh Farm in Oak Hill, NY. We camped with a large g...
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The last time I posted to my blog in April, at the end I wrote:

"I have the following art projects on deck:

I plan to submit, hopefully, three paintings to the Historical Society of Cheshire County juried exhibit, 64 Miles, The Ashuelot River. The Ashuelot River travels 64 miles in southwest New Hampshire from Pillsbury State Park in Washington, NH to the Connecticut River in Hinsdale, NH. The goal of the exhibition is to pay "homage to the largely over looked Ashuelot River as the great nat...

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Once again I am amazed how much time has passed since I last sat down to gather my thoughts around my art and what has been filling my time. I have been meaning to get to this for a few weeks now, but something else always seems to come up and I don't get to it. I decided that today, before I head outside to remove leaves from the perennial beds on what is supposed to be a beautiful and warm spring day (finally!), that I would share some of my art stories from late winter, and this spring tha...
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December was truly a blur of work, school events, craft fairs, maintaining inventory for craft fairs, painting...oh...and of course...the holidays! As much as I enjoyed the various events, staying prepared and organized in such a busy season can be really exhausting. 2012 was an amazing year for my family and me. After the chaos of December though, I am grateful to have turned the page to 2013 and what it will bring.

I participated in three local craft fairs over the holiday season. I always ...
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2012 was an interesting painting year for me. I started early by creating a painting for a juried art exhibit that was very well received and won first prize! In the spring I finished two paintings I had started in the summer of 2011 for that year's Art in the Park, but hadn't had a chance to complete. Then I went quite some time not feeling a sense of creativity or the urge to paint. Thankfully in the summer a friend requested a commission of her family, renewing my motivation. Finally, to b...
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Where does the time go? It seems like summer started just yesterday, and now we have already passed into fall. As the days get shorter and the trees burst with color, I have been reflecting back on the wonderful summer that just passed. I didn’t have much time for painting, but I experienced a great variety of man made and natural art that filled my days with wonder and awe.

The summer began just two days after the kids finished school in June. The company my husband works for is based ...

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One of the really fun parts of being an artist in the Monadnock region is when the community comes together around art. When I participate in art events, exhibits and fairs, I meet so many new people, connect with friends, and others I haven’t seen in awhile, and really feel I am part of an amazing place.

The annual Keene Art Walk is a great example of art bringing the community together. I was juried into the Art Walk and assigned a window in Clark Mortenson Insurance on Main Street. On...

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Spring has turned into a very busy time for me, as it always is. One of the greatest demands on my time is getting last fall’s leaves out of the perennial gardens that line the stone walls around my yard. It is a slow and tedious process that gives me little time for much else, including painting. However, even though I haven’t created new paintings in April and May, I have been showing my finished paintings in several exhibits.

On April 6 I hung an exhibit on the 3^rd floor of Keene City...

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I didn’t paint in February, but I did some art related things. On Friday, February 2 I hung some of my paintings in the cafeteria at Markem-Imaje in Keene. Markem is a manufacturer of product identification and trace...

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Yesterday I went down to my art room in the basement to put away some stuff. That room is my very ...

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December is such a busy time of year for so many reasons - family, school activities, getting ready for the holidays - then add to that for me, holiday craft fairs. There is so much preparation, packing, setting up and taking down to fit into my already busy schedule. I sometimes feel overwhelmed by it all until I actually sit down and remember why I like doing the fairs in the first place - connecting with people around my art. Once I am all set up, I have a chance to talk to people, which I...
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Even though the weather of late fall has felt more like September than December, it is that time of year again...the season of holiday craft fairs in New Hampshire. Churches, schools, non profit organizations and clubs work hard to bring together local crafters and artists to sell their products, and in turn, help with fundraising for the various organizations. The fairs are a wonderful way to support local crafters and artists by buying creative and unique gifts for family and friends, and ...

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