**UPDATE**Happy to report that "Dance of Late Spring's Light" sold in the exhibit. Many thanks to the venue and organizers. This is my second year of getting into the show, and second year of selling the work from this show.

In other show acceptance news, my watercolor "Dance of Late Spring's Light" was accepted into the 11th Annual Green Mountain Watercolor Exhibition, presented by Mad River Valley Arts at the Red Barn Gallery in Waitsfield, Vermont. This is my second year of showing work in this magnificent exhibit housed in a big charming old barn on the Lareau Farm (home of American Flatbread). 

Full disclosure and a little back story: I changed the title of the painting to better reflect the story about the light in the piece. It's old name was "No Wake Zone"; I worried that many people would not understand the reference (it depicts the area around Speaker Heck and Long Islands on Lake George where boats are required to slow down to 5mph and not throw any wake). I also thought the title sounded too negative, almost statement like, and that was not what the painting is about. 

The Green Mountain Watercolor Exhibition opens on Sunday, June 18 with a reception from 5-7pm, and runs through July 22, 2023. The Red Barn Galleries at Lareau Farms is located off of Rte. 100 in Waitsfield, VT. Gallery hours to be announced.

"Dance of Late Spring's Light on Lake George", watercolor, 10"x13" matted/framed to 16"x19", $440.

**UPDATE September 2023** Happy to report that Tapestry sold while on exhibit in the Adirondack National Exhibition of American Watercolor

When I was a teenager, I took the drivers test five times before I finally passed on the fifth try and got my license (laugh if you want to, that's fine...maybe I was just a very distracted teenager).

Another true story: On my fifth attempt at applying to the Adirondack National Exhibition of American Watercolors, I finally succeeded in getting a painting accepted into this show, whew! So excited to finally get in and add this accomplishment to the old artist resume.
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One of my favorite paintings completed last year, "Tapestry" (an intricate piece which took a whole lot more focus than what I brought to my drivers tests way back when!) will be headed up to the presenting venue, The View Arts in Old Forge, NY  The exhibit isn't until later in the summer, opening on Aug. 4 and running to October 1, 2023. An opening reception and awards ceremony will be held on Aug. 4, 6-8pm. I'm looking forward to heading up there for the opening festivities and seeing all the exemplary works in watermedia by artists from across the country. 

I was thrilled to receive the Silver Award for "Dream Trees" at the opening reception for North Country Arts Expressions Annual Juried Show on May 6!

Selection and awards juror Laura Von Rosk did a remarkable job picking out the work for the exhibit, so full of life, color and movement. I am so grateful to her for seeing something in my painting worthy enough for this lovely honor, and was so touched by her thoughtful comments about my painting.

It was also nice to have one of my former co-workers in arts administration, Becky Zeh, get awarded for her painting and see so many friendly, supportive artist friends at what is always a lively and well-attended opening reception for this annual exhibit presented by NCA at the Shirt Factory Gallery.

And I'm super grateful to The Touba Family Foundation for sponsoring the awards for the show and to NCA for opportunity to exhibit and their excellent display skills. The show runs until June 10 in the Shirt Factory Gallery, 71 Lawrence St, Glens Falls, NY. Hours are Thurs-Saturday noon-5pm. ​There are so many well-done, masterful pieces in the show!

I'll be showing a selection of around 16 paintings at Uncommon Grounds' Clifton Park location, June 1-June 26. This busy established local restaurant/coffee business has several locations in the Capital District, and has for a long time provided exhibition space on its walls for regional artists.  I'm looking forward to the show and hope to introduce my work to many new viewers.

Uncommon Grounds in Clifton Park is located just off Exit 9 of the Northway in Village Plaza at 9 Clifton Country Road; hours are 7 days a week, 6am-8pm M-F, 6:30am-8pm Sat & Sun.

For artists, being open to exhibiting in a variety of venues and different locales, while also being selective about where and when to show work, can lead to great exposure and rewarding sales/connections/future collectors. In deciding to show my work in a few restaurants and businesses over the years, I've had moderate success at a couple of them and other times, my work just decorated the walls.

There are pros and cons to putting work up in non-traditional exhibit spots such as businesses and restaurants. Yes, your work will be seen by a different audience, but will it be worth the work to get a show together depends on a variety of factors: how busy the establishment is-too busy to run sales or direct interested collectors to purchasing, or not busy enough, so not enough people see the show?  Is your artwork info and marketing material visible enough to potential collectors or is your work just decorating the walls? How organized is the venue and how well do they communicate with the artists? Do they help promote the work on their walls? Do you feel that your work will be safe there? A lot to consider for either emerging and moderately established artists who want to expand their reach to new locales.

I use assembled stretcher bars to stretch my watercolor paper. One of my studio mates back in college ( a long, long time ago) showed me this unique way to stretch watercolor paper and I've been using this method ever since. The photos at the bottom help show the process.

What you'll need:

• full 22"x30" sheet of watercolor paper (I use Fabriano Hot Press 140 lb.)
• assembled stretcher bars 22" x 30"
• Elmer's Glue-All
  
  

1. Fill your bathtub with 3 inches of water. Soak the sheet of watercolor paper in the bathtub for around 8 minutes.
2. While paper is soaking, apply a solid line of glue all around one side of stretcher bars and spread it a little bit - see photo. Also note that in the photo, my stretchers have layers of paper along the edges from each time I've used them. I've used the same stretcher bars for decades.
3. Pull paper out of bathtub and let drip until no more water drips off the sheet. It's important to completely let the water drip off; any residual water might result in an annoying watermark in the middle that can't really be painted over.
4. Lay sheet over prepared stretcher bars so that it lines up evenly on all edges. Then press down on all edges so that paper is affixed to bars. Tug a little on all edges so that paper doesn't sag in the middle. (It's ok if there's a little sagging; the paper will dry up to a flat surface as long as most of the edges are adhered well to where the glue is on the stretcher bars).
5. Let the contraption dry for at least 12 hours. Putting it on the top of a clothes drying rack works very well.

The end result is a perfectly stretched, sized sheet of watercolor paper that you can paint directly on, while it's still on the bars. It's lighter and more portable than paper taped to a board. I usually do several paintings on one full sized sheet, then cut them out from the stretchers with an exacto knife when they're done. To reuse the stretchers, just pull off any excess paper that isn't glued. It's ok if there's still glued paper along the edges; you can re-use the stretcher bars for this purpose over and over. I've had mine for decades, there's a solid build up of paper on the edges, but they still work wonderfully.