First Friday is upon us once again! This time it brings the Tinman Gallery‘s traditional Best Of show, with a collection of small works from several of the gallery’s regular artists.

I’ll have six pieces in the show, all pastels, including Heat Lightning Study, left. Want to see more of my pieces from the Best Of 2011? Click here.

If you can make it up to the Garland District this Friday night, please stop by, we’d love to see you!

Here are the particulars:

Best of 2011
(Small Works Show)
Tinman Gallery
811 West Garland Avenue
Spokane, Washington
Opens Friday, December 2, 2011, 5 – 9 p.m.

I’m jealous.

Two more of my pastels are traveling without me. No sooner did two pieces return from their working vacation in France, than two more are packing for California. Costa Mesa, to be exact. Half an hour from my birthplace and my friend Vicky‘s college town, Long Beach.

This is all Vicky’s doing, in fact. She suggested that I enter some of my little pastel sketches in the Randy Higbee Gallery 6 Inch Squared show coming up in December. There were only a few days left before the jury deadline, but I jumped at the chance. This would be my first opportunity to get some feedback on my new landscape work, jury style. And, without the risk of applying with untested work to a bread-and-butter art fair.

I didn’t have to wait long. This jury had the fastest turnaround ever—results posted a day and a half after the entry deadline. I wish all shows could do that! Today I found out that Foggy Walk Study (above) and Canoe Trail Study will be in the show. A nice bit of validation for my new little project.

If you are lucky enough to be in So Cal during December, and you happen to be in the Costa Mesa area, here are the show details:

6 Inch Squared Show
Gala Aritsts’ Reception: December 3rd From 5:00 to 9:00pm
Exhibition and Sale: December 3rd-December 23rd
Randy Higbee Gallery
102 Kalmus, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
714.546.2156
Hours: Tuesday to Friday from 9:00 to 5:00 pm

This First Friday night you can find me, a selection of my paintings—some brand new—and Sue Bradley from the Tinman Gallery all hanging out at the Roberts Mansion in Browne’s Addition.

If you are familiar with Browne’s Addition, the mansion is located one block directly north of The Elk, and just over two blocks east of the MAC. If not, here is a map. It is an impressively restored Victorian house, definitely worth a visit in its own right.

I’m bringing new oil paintings, including Bellaluna, above, as a preview for my upcoming solo show at the Tinman this March.

If you are out and about this First Friday, be sure to stop by. We’d love to see you!

First Friday
Roberts Mansion
1923 West 1st Avenue
Spokane, Washington
November 4, 2011, 5–8 p.m.

At last, October finds me back in the studio, getting ready for the next round of events.

First on the agenda: oil painting! I’ve had little time to paint in oil this year, and I’ve missed it. But with my solo show coming up at the Tinman in March, and a First Friday preview at the Roberts Mansion (just down the street from the MAC) next month, I desperately need some new oils. The Birth of Fire, left, is the first to be completed.

Next up: landscapes! My recent series of tiny landscapes proved to be quite popular, selling out in two shows. The six-by-six-inch pastels were the first step in a larger landscape project I have planned for this fall and winter.

Followed by: everything else! I’ll continue to develop my body of work in pastel and oil for the Tinman show, my galleries, and next season’s festivals. And hopefully somewhere along the way I’ll get a chance to paint the walls in my studio… the addition of a new, soon-to-be-open brewery in my building has given me the studio-improvement bug!

Be sure to check back here or on my Facebook page for updates on my upcoming shows. Happy Studio Season—a.k.a. Fall!

The Little Spokane River Artist Studio Tour is Saturday, September 24th, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

This year I decided to do something a little different… I’ve created a limited number of 6″ x 6″ landscape and tree pastels especially for the Tour. Most are framed in wide, silver plein-aire frames, but I will mat a handful to offer at a special price for the event. Framed pieces range from $175 to $195, and matted pieces will be $95. Come early for the best selection!

The landscapes are the beginning of a new project, and some will become the basis for larger works. It’s been years since I’ve painted these subjects, so this is a fun and fresh diversion. You can preview the pieces in the gallery below.

Of course, I’ll have several pieces of my more familiar work on hand as well—some at special prices for the Tour.

I’m at Studio #1 again this year, but not in the gazebo—find me in the yard. See you on the 24th!

[Show as slideshow]

Bend, Oregon is where you will find me and my art this weekend. Art in the High Desert starts this Friday at 10:00 a.m.

AHD is a wonderfully juried little show in a beautiful—yet convenient—setting. Art booths wind alongside a stream just a few steps from the Shops at the Old Mill in Bend. Since it falls on the weekend before Labor Day, many artists do this show on their way to the Sausalito Art Festival or in my case, Art in the Pearl. So if you can’t make it to either of those famously top-notch shows, you can find many of the same amazing artists in Bend.

I’ve made some new work especially for Bend this year, including some of my ponderosa pine images like Storm’s Passing (above). I’ve also made some new miniature works, including a few landscapes and a tiny pine. Come see these and all of my work this weekend!

Art in the High Desert
When: August 26 – 28, 2011
Where: The Shops at the Old Mill, 661 Powerhouse Drive, Bend, OR
Hours: Friday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m, Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
What I’m bringing: Pastels and Oils
Booth #26c

Yet again, I am wishing I could be two places. This time it’s Sun Valley Center Arts and Crafts Festival and the French Pastels Salon International going head to head.

While I am required to attend the first one, I can’t really afford to go to the second one, so it all works out. Plus, Sun Valley is one of my perennial favorites. Ketchum feels a bit like a second home with all the little traditions that have evolved around the show. I’ll bring pastels and oils once again this year, including Moonflight, above—appropriately based on a small pastel that makes its debut in Dordogne this weekend. Souhaitez moi bonne chance!

Sun Valley Center Arts and Crafts Festival
When: August 12- 14, 2011
Where: Atkinson Park, 900 3rd Ave., Ketchum, ID
Hours: Friday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m., Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
What I’m bringing: Pastels and Oils
Booth # G-9

Pastels Salon International
International Exhibition Hall
24410 Saint Aulaye
Dordogne, France
August 13 – 28, 2011
Free admission daily from 10am to 12:30 and 2:30 to 7

Can I be two places at once? If only.

This is one of those wish-I-could-be-two-places weekends. The Bellevue Arts Museum Artsfair starts Friday in Bellevue, WA. I’m so excited to see my Seattle-area collectors and find  homes for some new pieces like Shiva Luna (above). Naturally, also on Friday, the Peter Pan Invitational opens at the Tinman Gallery here in Spokane. I’d love to see my cicada “fairy” wings (Dreams of Moonlit Flight, left) in what I’m sure will be a fantastic group show. But alas.

If you are going to be in Bellevue this weekend, please stop by and check out a LOT of new work in pastel at my new location: booth O-9. If you are in Spokane, please visit the Tinman for their great summer tradition: the literary-themed group show. Both events promise to be full of fantastic art and fun.

Bellevue Arts Museum artsfair

When: July 29 – 31, 2011
Where: Bellevue Square parking garage, 510 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA
Hours: Friday – Saturday, 9:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m., Sunday 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.
What I’m bringing: Pastels
Booth #O-9

Peter Pan Invitational

When: July 29th, 5 – 9 p.m.
Where: Tinman Gallery, 811 W. Garland Avenue, Spokane WA
What: Nearly 50 invited artists show works inspired by the classic novel, Peter Pan