Solo Show at The Main Street Gallery

Night Falls, 6"x12", Oil on Birch Panel, 2010

Well, first I'd like to thank everyone for such kind words of encouragement concerning keeping this blog going. I really appreciate it and so yes, I will keep trying to find my way here, though I must warn you in advance, it may involve more chicken/vegetable garden/farm/bee posts. And whoever mentioned chocolate brownies is a genius, maybe I will include a few cooking posts too. Heh.

Which is probably ok, since many of you wanted to hear about this crazy farm life we have AND especially my meat chicken raising experience! I will write about that next time, I would do it today but I think it might be a rather long post with a lot of pictures and I have to start a rather complicated 40"x46" painting today. I really must get to work on that so that I can get to bed at a decent hour tonight. Seriously, it could take all day!

And the reason I must start the painting today is because it's for a solo show at The Main Street Gallery in Groton, NY, and all the work must be delivered by next Saturday. Even though I have two more large and pretty detailed paintings to finish, I feel like I am in pretty good shape here; all the other work is completed, all I have left is documenting it, and also painting the edges of the panels and putting on the hangers etc. A few days work, tops.

I am very excited about this show; The Main Street Gallery has been very kind to me over the years, they gave me my first solo show back in 2005 (which will always remind me of Hurricane Katrina, read about that here) and have also included me in several group shows. So when they invited me back to do another show, I said yes right away. And even better, they agreed to show the 'People You Know' pieces that I did in Vermont last winter, and I am adding four new portraits, PLUS a new series of small landscapes, including the one pictured above. I have taken a long enough break from paintings landscapes so that my return to them has actually been lovely and peaceful and I am quite happy about them.

So the opening reception for the show is on Saturday, September 11, 5-8pm and Doug and I will be there if anyone wants to come by and say hello. I will be posting many of the images here in the coming weeks and as soon as the show opens all the paintings can be viewed on the gallery's website.

Dipping my Toes in the Water

Line of Trees, 6"x12", Oil on Birch Panel, 2010

So I guess I might be the stubborn sort. I want to keep this blog going even if I have been moving further and further away from it lately. Maybe it's all the fame and fortune it brings me that lures me back???? No, probably not that, hehe.

But there is something here, because every day for the last few months I kept thinking that I should write a new post even though I didn't really feel like it. Maybe I just needed a good long break to reassess. It has also occurred to me that maybe, and it's a real longshot, I have become totally sick of talking about myself all the time. Maybe I am preferring the short sound bite style mentions of myself and my activities that I post on Facebook. The ones that seem to fulfill the same need to express what I am doing, but take much less time and thought and get much more immediate feedback. Or maybe 4+ years for a blog is a really good run and I should close it up. Just a few of the many theories that I have been pondering in the last two months.

Well whatever the reason, here I am again and I will keep trying to find my balance in all this social media stuff until some sort of answer clunks me in the head.

Ok, so here is a brief update on life in Tracyland during the last few months:

-new hen house in the garage
-45 new egg layer chicks
-raised 40 meat chickens
-drove my kids everywhere everyday
-kids at summer camp and at Outward Bound at various times, but never at the same time
-husband out of town on our 17th wedding anniversary
-signed up to participate in a community yard sale day then bailed out because we were overwhelmed by all the sorting that had to be done
-read 'Open' by Andre Aggassi, my love
-mucho gardening but mucho problems with critters and weeds
-The Fabulous Beekman Boys
-me sending paintings to a new gallery for a try out
-me getting the paintings back after they received ZERO interest from customers
-one of my black paintings being accepted into a national juried show
-the start of a new series of portraits that I am SUPER excited about
-spending July and August preparing for a solo show in September
-a few shows added to my schedule for 2011
-and signing up to do several things I have avoided in the past which could be good but I am doing them mostly because the art business has been pretty slow again this year.

The list of things that I have NOT done this summer and should have, is much, MUCH longer.

So who wants to hear more about what? Speak up, otherwise the next post will be all about raising meat chickens. heh.