My latest painting:  An oil pastel, 12 by 24 inches on canvas panel.
Artists use manikins to aid with figure drawing.  I decided to just paint the manikin.  I use this painting at the entrance to my art display at art fairs.  He is my official greeter.  He's "Howdy the Manikin."

Hiatus

I have been down for quite some time.  I was incapacitated shortly after my last October posting with back pain.  I under went back surgery later in the month and have been in the doldrums since.

Fortunately the pain is gone but I have permanent left foot drag that is helped quite a bit with a brace.  I now walk with a cane.

It must be quite a sight when I walk my dog, Gus, and he decides to take off after something or someone and he drags this stumbling, semi cripple behind him.  He weighs almost 140 pounds.  His taking off after someone isn't an attack but he expects everyone he sees to come and pet him.  He has a couple of neighbors that give good back rubs and there is just no holding him back when he sees them.

Top photo is Gus, of course (one of the loves of my life)
The bottom photo is of my number one daughter, Tammy.  This was a few days after my surgery and I still had a lot of pain at the time.

I hope my muse will return and I can start painting again.

Last Saturday's art fair in Dover, NH was pretty good.  My giclee prints were well received but I wasn't able to sell  any of my original paintings.  I guess, that with the current economy, no one seems to want to put out the big bucks.

One of the visitors to my site was a pet goat.  The gentleman's goat is a pet, house broken and even sleeps with him.  I'm not too sure about those horns and hooves on the bed with me a night.

My oil pastel "Texas Gothic" won first prize in the associates division of the international Oil Pastel Society.  It's on 11 by 14 inch archival canvas panel.

I will be erecting my canopy and art walls at the Apple Harvest Fest in Dover, NH this Saturday.  At least I hope I'll be able to participate.  I've thrown my back out and I hope I'll able to have the pain down to a tolerable level by Saturday.

We'll be at the McConnell Center which about a block from the main venues.

I've been informed that one of my paintings has won an international award.  The official notification will be tomorrow........

It's like waiting for Santa Claus.

I'm way behind in keeping up with my blog.  I've been painting furiously and have a good number of painting that I've been adding to my art fair inventory.

It's an 11 by 14 inches, oil pastel, on canvas.  This is one of my favorites.  I'm not a vegetarian but I won't eat lamb nor veal for that matter.

It's been a busy summer.  I normally do 6 to 8 art fairs a year but I've built up so much inventory, I've scheduled 20 art fairs from June until the second week in December.

Since it's going to be a rainy weekend here, I lucked out and had this weekend free.

Next Saturday, I'll be in Dover, NH and their Apple Festival.  The art fair protion is a new show on the fringe of the Apple Festival.  I hope many of the Festival goers find our location.