Harding Artshow Has Been Cancelled

For anybody who reads this and was making plans to go to the Harding Artshow it has been cancelled due to a case of swine flu in the school. Apparently one of the students contracted the flu but is home and doing well and is expected to recover. However, the school and all activities have been shut down for a full week, that includes the show. At this point we haven't heard if they plan on rescheduling or not having it at all. We will keep everybody updated.
I have a daughter at Harding and this has created quite a bit of apprehension in our family and the Harding community. Hopefully, this will be an isolated event and will pass with the end of the week.
I have also worked in different capacities as a parent volunteer over the years with the Harding show and I know first hand how much work and manpower is involved in making it work.The time and energy that has been committed up to this point is astronomical. I think trying to stop the show like this would be the equivalent of stopping a runaway train without wrecking it at the bottom of the hill. Hopefully it will still happen.

That Time of the Year

First off I want to say the Chestnut Group artshow for The Friends of Radnor Lake was a success due to the people who volunteered on behalf of the Chestnuts and the Friends of Radnor. Thanks to all who worked to make it happen. While I was there on Saturday I went out to the park to paint and a family came up with a young 2 year old girl named Lucy. Lucy was mesmerized by the fact that I was standing there making a painting. She got wide eyed. So, I gave Lucy my brush and Lucy scooped up a little blue from my palette and applied it to the sky as well as any artist I have watched. Thanks, Lucy, for your help. It made the painting (the middle painting above) perfect.
I also want to mention some wet paint carriers I am using now. They are called Panel Roos and they are made by a friend of mine named Jason Jackson. These are great for carrying wet panels. They are extremely light, very flat and portable and durable. You can put two panels in face to face and then swing a metal arm down to hold them in place. If your interested send me an e-mail and I will hook you up. I have one in my photo of the cutbank above.
Also, this weekend is the Harding Artshow. It is a fundraiser that Harding Academy has each year and it has a tremendous amount of art and artists participating. This will be the 5th year I have participated and will carry around 30-40 paintings with me. That and the fact my computer has gone haywire is the reason for my lack of blogging. The show is at Harding Academy and they are at the intersection of Harding Road and Winsor Drive. The show is Thursday night, Friday all day and Saturday until 3:00. You can also find info on the show at artshow.Harding Academy.org Come by and say hi!

No Complaining

Trying to paint hard to get enough pieces for three seperate shows coming up. Radnor Lake show starts this Thursday with a show at Leiper's Creek on the 25th followed then by the Harding Show, a show I will try to have at least 30 paintings for. I am in pretty good shape for the shows but had two galleries contact me and want work.
I remember Julia Roberts told a story on Dolly Parton in an interview once. She said they were filming a movie together and it was in the middle of the summer and some extraodinarily long, hot days and she had been grousing and complaining and she asked Dolly why she seemed so content and wasn't complaining and Dolly said," I prayed my whole life to be here doing what I'm doing. This is a dream come true for me and I'm not about to complain."
3 shows and 4 galleries. I'm not about to complain.

Bus-ted

This old Williamson County bus sits in a field in Leiper's Fork and I have always driven by and said I would paint it someday. Sunday was that day. Apparently it has become a storage shed.
When I look at it abandoned in this field I have to ask who would aquire a school bus and how did they aquire it to just drive it home and park it in a field to store junk in it? How do you get a school bus? Do they give them away or sell them? Ya' know, if you tore out the seats and added a bunk and a fridge and a giant easel, you would have a great mobile studio. Just back it up to your favorite local scene, fling open the back door and voila, instant studio, rain or shine.