Will be working a bit more this evening, but wanted to post this now before I break for dinner. Expect to finish up tomorrow.

Today's work . . .

The piece I am working on right now is of a tranquil spot not too far from where I live in central Maryland, Otterdale Mill. I 'discovered' this old mill building one afternoon, shortly after I had moved to Maryland in the fall of 2001. I was out, just driving around the countryside, checking out my new surroundings and came across this scene as I rounded a corner and drove down a bit of a hill. It almost took my breath away, the calm and peaceful atmosphere that I immediately felt. I pulled over to the side of the road and just took it all in for a quarter of an hour. Since that first afternoon, I have returned to Otterdale any number of times, at all times of the year, and am never surprised at how relaxed and regenerated I feel when I leave there. This will be my first attempt at trying to portray some of that tranquility that seems to hang in the air at this almost perfect spot, almost in my own back yard!

Have begun a more landscape-y piece.

Some of my artist friends have accused me of being 'obsessed' with frames! Well, since I do all my own framing, I do tend to seek out interesting frames. With a slight modification, as the old saying goes, 'I have yet to have met a frame I did not like!' The hallway outside my studio tends to fill up with frames, waiting to be filled ... a lifetime's project, me thinks!

The furnace room/frame shop!

Saturday, July 9 from 6 to 8 pm is the date and time set for the reception of the small group show at my Annapolis gallery, Main Street Gallery. I will have 11 new works there, including some you have seen here on the blog. If you are in the area, stop by on Saturday evening and say hello!

Yesterday, after some mid morning showers, I and an artist and a photographer friend set off for an afternoon on the eastern shore of Maryland, just south of Cambridge at the Black Water Wildlife Refuge. I have been there many times and at different times of year and the place always is inspiring. The three of us were prepared for a nice, relaxing couple of hours at the Refuge, arriving around 4 in the afternoon, just about the time when the light and colors of the day started to turn golden. A lot of good reference material was gathered and the peaceful surroundings and quiet of the Refuge helped to alleviate the stresses of deadlines and studio demands. Always nice to get out for a day of reference work!

The refuge attracts all sorts of water birds and no matter what time of year I have been there, there always seems to be an abundance of egrets.

While watching and photographing a group of egrets wading through a pond, searching for fish, this butterfly came into view just in front of where I was standing.

Came across this heron beside the road, poised and focused and very shortly, with a nice prize!

Sharp eyes, sharp beak. The heron nailed a fish and we watched as it gulped its catch down in one quick movement.

Meal swallowed, off it flew.

As the afternoon wore on, we stopped to watch the sky begin to turn the colors of sunset as well as to watch and photograph a group of egrets when this little character showed up on the scene! Much to our surprise and delight, a small fox began to wonder down the road toward us. Not knowing whether the animal was healthy or perhaps a sick one, we made sure we were close enough to the vehicle to make a hasty retreat if necessary. I think the fox was just as curious and unsure as we, as it kept coming forward and then retreating. We ultimately decided that it really wanted to get past us, so we moved on down the road to see what else we could spot before darkness set in.

The egrets moved slowly and deliberately through the shallows, seeking their end of day meal.

Last catch of the day? Darkness setting in, air settling down, busy bugs beginning to hover and bite .... time to think about heading out for a nice seafood dinner!

The late afternoon light and color began to paint one of the ponds with the pinks and purples of sunset, as we watched the few remaining egrets make their last attempts at fishing, before flying off to roost for the night.

The day came to a very nice end as we drove toward the exit gate and spotted this colony of egrets settling in for the night. The sun, which had been hidden for a bit behind some developing thunderheads, popped through and highlighted the scene.

Some random, well not too random, thoughts today on some wonderful photography I discovered yesterday. Thanks to an artist friend, who sent me a copy of the March/April issue of LensWork magazine, I was introduced to the work of George Barr. I went to his web site, http://www.georgebarr.smugmug.com/, and found even more to marvel over. His monochrome images blew my socks off! I was especially taken with some of his photographs that focused on industrial details and through beautifully balanced abstract images, I was not only moved emotionally, but inspired greatly as a fellow artist. His color work also, to my way of thinking, defines a special talent and eye for intriguing composition. Take a look and see for yourself.

Ok, I think we have had enough of 'works in progress' for a bit. Here's the finished product, 'Ides of March' a 12" x 16" work, ready to head over to Annapolis this coming week in prep for the July group show. Now that this work and 8 others are out of the way and ready to go, I will try and get a couple of small works done, maybe one of which might be a small, postcard sized work that will be available for sale here first, on the blog, at $100.00. Hard to believe it is mid year and mid June in Maryland. It has been very nice the last few days, mild and quite comfortable. I may have to take myself out into the countryside tomorrow and do some reference work! Too nice to be indoors working in the studio. Happy Father's Day, all you dads!

Horses all done. Now, it's just the 'noodling' of the background!

Five hours into it today .....

Not much work time today, but managed to get some dimensionality in. Delivering art work to a gallery tomorrow, so doubt there will be much progress till later on Wednesday. I know you are all just anxiety prone to see the update! :)

Where I work. A bit less messy than usual!

Saturday afternoon's work . . . a horse, a couple of legs and . . .

End of the week, and the beginning of another work. This time, a fairly good sized work of five horses, referenced on the eastern shore of Maryland in late winter, after a nice snowfall. This work is tagged for inclusion in my upcoming show at Main Street Gallery in Annapolis next month.

The finished work.

Work, as of 4:30 today.

Been very busy with other things this past week and as a result, did not make much progress on the current work on the board during the last seven days. Back at work today, and hope to have an update on the barn/cow work later this afternoon with today's work on it. In the meantime, for anyone who might have taken a look at several of the comments that have been posted here over the last few weeks, you will have seen a couple of postings by a fine, talented young artist friend of mine, Ryan Jacque. He has been kind enough to leave some postive remarks about my work and I wanted to acknowledge that here and to also say to anyone who may look in on this blog, that Ryan is an outstanding pencil artist in his own right. I met Ryan some years ago and was immediately impressed with his skill, his technical ability with the medium and his incredible compositions. Composition is something that has always been first and foremost in my work, and I am always excited to see other artists, whose work I admire and respect, using the basic elements of good composition to make beautiful works of art. Ryan does that in spades! Check out his web site at www.ryanjacque.com and see for yourself.