Well, maybe not really fishin', but spending a few days

away from the studio and work, on a well deserved

mini vacation after the big push to finish work

for the just past Waterfowl Festival. I'll be

raking leaves and doing some other things

on a large scale project, but as Arnold

once said (insert your very best

Schwarzenegger accent here),

"I'll be back!"

Fall in the Backyard

Over the last few days, I have been enjoying watching a family of robins who seem to be residing someplace nearby for the time being, maybe as they beef up for a trip further south? In any event, I have gathered some very good reference material of them. Also, today I spotted a wood pecker up in one of the old, tall trees in the yard, a bit too far away for anything usable, but nevertheless, fun to watch from the kitchen window. I had to chip away a coating of ice from the bird bath this morning, so guess that winter cold is beginning to settle in during the night, Brrrrr!

Thanks to all who attended the Waterfowl Festival this past weekend in beautiful and historic Easton, Maryland. The weather had some fun with us, but the crowds did not seem to be bothered that much by wet and wind, tornado watches and such! I met and spoke with many people who were new to viewing my work and enjoyed talking about what I do and how I do it.

In these tough economic times, it was wonderful to see people out and enjoying themselves in the creative environment that was Easton for three days, and to those who walked away with works of art tucked under their arms, a very BIG Thank You!

Now, it is on to the next point on my fall schedule of shows, that being the Small Works Show at the Howard/Mandville Gallery in Kirkland, Washington. The show is hanging now and the draw auction will be held on November 22nd. You can view all the works in the show through the link below, and if interested in a piece, you can put in a bid with the gallery. There is a lot of fine, fine work included in this year's showing, including two works of mine, so take a look!

http://www.howardmandville.com/Miniature%20Show/Mini%20%20Pages/mini1.html

The Waterfowl Festival

As I have been mentioning for a bit now, next Thursday evening will see the opening of the 38th Annual Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland. As I quickly discovered this morning in looking back at my files, this year marks my 17th participation in this great showing of art, crafts, decoys, sculpture and all things creative.

Encompassing venues spread throughout Easton, as seen on this map of the town . . .


. . . all two dimensional fine art is displayed at either the Tidewater Gallery (#9 on the map) or the Elks Gallery (#2 on the map and the location where my work will be seen). Sculptors are split between venues #s 4 and 5 and photography at #12. Crafts, decoys, wood carvings, antiques and other creative and sporting related items are located at all the other numbered locations on the map.

As indicated by the blue and orange lines on the map, free shuttle bus service takes visitors to all venues and parking areas. It's an exciting weekend with lots to see and do and the fall color adds just that much more to the artistic surroundings. So, if you would like to spend a couple of days or a few hours seeing some mighty fine art work, come to Easton November 14, 15 or 16!

For more information, check out this link to the Festival web site - http://www.waterfowlfestival.org/ .

In addition to the work which I will be displaying at the Elks Gallery, more of my work can be seen both during the Festival weekend and all year long at Troika Gallery which is at 9 South Harrison Street just down from the Tidewater Gallery in the heart of downtown Easton.

Another small work, this one just over 4" square, that is a commissioned piece so won't be a part of the inventory going to the Waterfowl Festival next week. My good friend, Adele Earnshaw just posted a slew of dandy little works on her blog page (linked in my link list) and I for one, can't wait to see them in person next week in Easton. Every one of them is a little gem, so take a look!

And, don't forget that tonight is the opening and auction sale for the works included in this year's Gilcrease Museum miniature show, American Art in Miniature, mention of which was made on last Tuesday's entry here (the 28th of October). There is a link in that entry directly to the pages showing all the works included in the show with pricing. Any works not sold this evening will be available through the web site till November 16th. There are some mighty nice small, inexpensive works included in the lot, 'good deals', all!

__________________________________

And, on a somewhat sadder note, I received word earlier this week about a dear, dear friend and fine graphite artist, Ryan Jacque. He had a terrible accident last Saturday, falling and suffering severe trauma to his head, skull and one of his legs. The injuries were very bad and he went through some surgery over the weekend to correct breaks to his skull. He now is in an induced coma as they try to get him to recover from this trauma before more surgery is done.

Ryan has been a friend for many years and I am personally devastated at this news. At the moment, it is uncertain if he will suffer long term problems as a result of all of this and if his creative and drawing skills will be lessened in any way in the future.

For anyone reading this who knows Ryan's work or has heard me talk about this young, impressive artist in the past and who wants to know more, his family has set up a special page on his web site that they will try and update daily. This is a link to that page - http://www.ryanjacque.com/ryan.php#latest .

Be patient as a lot of people are looking in to find out the latest information and the page is loading quite slowly.

Sold

After voting yesterday, and while waiting for the results last night of this incredible election . . . I finished up this work, another of the smaller pieces that will go to the Waterfowl Festival a week from tomorrow. This one is just under 4" x 6" and will be with me at the Elks Gallery in Easton next week. I will be posting more information about the Festival in the next day or two for those who would like to come on down! It is always a wonderful weekend, filled with much to see and do in that historic eastern shore town.

I just did, and so should you!

While ghosts and goblins wondered around the neighborhood streets yesterday, I spent my time with this cheetah and her cub - another small work for the Waterfowl Festival coming up in just shy of two weeks, this one just under 4" x 6".