I am pleased to share that my painting "The Tool of Measure" has been accepted in the Northwest Watercolor Society's 76th Annual International Open Exhibition.  The exhibit will be on display April 18th through June 3rd, 2016 at the Mercer Gallery, located  at the Mercer Island Community & Event Center, 8236 SE 24th Street, Mercer Island, Washington.  There will be an Artists' Reception - Thur, April 28, 6:30 - 8:00 pm.  The juror, Jeannie McGuire, selected the paintings of 56 artists from 400 paintings submitted from around the world.  Back to my brushes.

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."  - Thornton Wilder

I spent the day painting - 11 hours.  I have planned my attack out in days and hours.  It was the only way I was going to get it done.  So, that was my day.  I hope yours was equally successful.  Back to my brushes. 

"Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."  - Marilyn Monroe

I've started a new piece and got pretty far with it this morning.  The last piece remains on its board.  I'm still on the fence about it so I haven't plucked it off yet.  But, it was time to make a decision, thus a new painting has been started.  My youngest wanted blue, I wanted violet.  So I chose yellow.  I like yellow.  I did a piece where the subject matter was blue glass and I used a violet background.  I've never posted it.  (If I do another piece I'll add them both to my gallery).  It was really difficult getting the scan just right.  I just wasn't up for the hassle.  So, I chose a nice buttery yellow for this one.  I plan to use beautiful violets in the shadows so it will work well.  It was a good day.  Back to my brushes. 

"True love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops."  - William Goldman

Received my copy of the latest PleinAir Magazine issue that includes my advertisement and was really very pleased with the way it turned out.  Straightforward and clean plus the painting looks great.  I couldn't be happier.  Then I got the news that my painting "For Good Measure" was accepted in the 2016 Transparent Watercolor Society of Americas 40th Annual Exhibition which will be on display from May 7th through August 7th, 2016 at the Kenosha Public Museum, 5500 First Avenue, Kenosha, Wisconsin. All in all a fine day.  Back to my brushes. 

"Instructions for living a life:  Pay attention, be astonished, tell about it."  - Mary Oliver

I've been working on this new piece for far too long and frankly, I'm conflicted.  Depending on the time of day I either love it or hate it.  I will power through and finish it, but you may never see it.  On the other hand I may enter it in something just to get an opinion other than my own.  My goal was to do something that wasn't logical color-wise.  In that, I succeeded.  But the question remains...does it work?   Not unlike how many licks to the center of a tootsie-pop; the world may never know.  Back to my brushes. 

"You get ideas all the time.  The  only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it."  - Neil Gaiman