Some New(ish) Paintings

It's been some time since I've posted, but way back when I started posting I promised myself I would never make excuses or feel bad for not posting often enough. I have been successful with the first part but I'm always fighting a bit of guilt.

Anyhow here are some paintings completed in the fall that are either here or in nearby galleries. Hope this finds friends and fans happy and healthy with something to be grateful for in the new year. Cheers

Springtime Gratitude

This year for my birthday I decided to take a leap of faith and invite some close friends to help in the yard. It seems a bit presumptuous of me but I find between working at home and being the gardener it gets a bit overwhelming sometimes. Having a perfectionist way about me all I ever see is what is wrong and needs work. The longer I go without doing the work the more overwhelming it seems. So this year I thought the best gift would be a giant jumpstart to help get me over the hump.

I was really nervous about it all but people actually showed. My friend Lorraine the caterer had to work but insisted on feeding us all anyway. I could be wrong but it seemed everyone really kind of enjoyed themselves. There is something about working on a shared project together that makes it much more fun and people get to visit as well. -I think we should all do this kind of thing for each other more often. (and it shouldn't even need to be a birthday)

Thank you again everyone. I await your call when you need a hand......

Idyllwild trip with friends

Jim and I rented a cabin in Idyllwild after Christmas with friends Lisa and Michael. I had been through there years ago briefly and remembered it might make a good get away kind of town. Turns out there are lots of cabins and vacation rentals at pretty good prices when you go with others. With the exception of some bad traffic west of L.A. it wasn't too far and you are way up in the piney mountains, surrounded by trees and beautiful views.The new Bananagram game my mom gave us for Christmas was a big hit. (Thanks Mom)
Lisa and Jim. We also ate very well. Our "cabin" was a very nice two bedroom house with a full kitchen.
Here I am at the local coffee shop after the hike.
Lots of map reading for all the good it did us.


The big hike we spent 30 minutes getting all our gear ready for turned out to be unpassable. There was no snow at our cabin but across the valley it was far too icy to walk off road.

And even tricky to walk on our "backup" hike. We were so focused on our feet that all four of us walked right by the perfectly marked trailhead. Oh well it was still all quite picturesque.