If you read this blog you might know that I've not had a gallery for quite a while. JD Pierce in Dallas, who has a jewel of a gallery in an old Victorian house, comes closest because he carries some of my paintings. A painter friend and good buddy of mine called recently telling me she was going to check out a brand new gallery she found on Craig's List and wanted me to come along. She'd already sent them a link to my web site and they liked my work. Because she and I try to keep each other out of the brier patch, I went along to check them out and ask some hard questions. Really, I was ready to not like the set-up.

Long story short, the gallery owners are two of the nicest, sharpest go-getter's I've had the pleasure of meeting recently! Jennifer is the numbers queen and knows where the market is and how to reach them. She doesn't simply expect to open her doors and have collectors fall in;) Tom is the art and frame guru, and he's even carrying a line of "green" frames! How cool is that?!! How could I say "no"?

The gallery is called the Liffey Art House in honor of the Liffey (pronounced "lif-ee") River in Dublin. Their gallery web site is still "under construction" but I'll post it here on the blog when it's finished.

Here's a painting that's going over to the Liffey Art House.

"Mission Trails View", 12 by 24 inches, oil on canvas. Available: $950

Meanwhile it seems as if physical therapy (due to injury and surgery due to car accident on 3/13, see postings below) is taking over a chunk of my time and there's less time for painting right now. Did have a chance to go out with a painting buddy recently and the painting below is the result.

Quick story about that outing. I saw a lovely path that I wanted to take a picture of and sketch for a larger studio painting, so I climbed over a stone wall to get there. It was a low step up from the dirt berm against the wall and not any trouble for me to climb over, bad knee and all. Wandered down the path all excited about nature's beauty and got what I needed. Then turned around and back tracked to find that the berm against the rock wall was way lower on the "other side". Yikes! How was I going to get back?! Called out to my painting buddy and she gave me a hand up and over, and that wasn't too graceful to look at! Lesson learned: if I'm going over the wall, first check out how I'm going to get back without further damaging my knee, or making a total spectacle of myself!! Yikes!

"Old Padre Dam", 9 by 12 inches, oil on canvas on panel. Available: $375

I've been advised to slow down. Slow is not my favorite speed but if I must, then I must. Here's the deal: my knee is not recovering all that well from recent surgery. (See posting in March about 2 car crashes in 1 day... not our fault!) I'm trying to do too much too soon, therefore I've been told to slow down and not try to rush my knee back to its fully functional state. It's going to get better on its own schedule, not mine. Bummer!

My "inner painter" is really not happy about that. She's got a big pouty lip on! She's raring to go out and paint on location like crazy at her usual warp speed. But we can't do that yet. Last weeks outing resulted in a big swollen and painful knee so my therapist gave me a lot of tips on how to avoid that happening in the future: my equipment goes on a wheeled cart and there will be ice packs brought along. Bummer... slow painting!

It's been over three and one-half months since the car accident (see postings from March through June, below) and yesterday was the first time I've been out painting on location with full gear. Prior to that it was make-do outings bringing what I could and usually sitting in or very close to the car. Did the best I could. Now I'm ready to be back in full swing of the paint brush!

A painting buddy went with me to Mission Trails Park at the Old Padre Dam, a peaceful and beautiful location. I lasted for two hours and then it was home to ice down my recently improved (surgically) knee. Had to sit on a little camping stool to paint and it sure felt funny being so close to ground level! Felt like I was at the "kiddie table" on Thanksgiving:) I'll finish up the painting I worked on out there now that I'm back in the studio nursing a slightly swollen knee. My painting buddy and I have plans to go back there some more to capture different views... and there are a lot to be had, so I'm excited about that.

A special shout out to all my friends in northern California who are dealing with the wildfires. We know what that's like... thoughts and prayers are with you.

Here's a new painting recently completed. You might be woudering about that strange tree in the foreground? Was out with another painter and she suggested I paint some of the old burned oaks. I commented that no one would want a painting of a burnt tree... so we'll see who wins the bet!

"Resiliance", 9 by 12 inches, oil on stretched canvas. Available: $375