Oils and Pastels by Margaret Dyer

"Meg's Favorite Earrings" is another in a series of Meg, my youngest daughter. The image is approximately 4x5 and will be framed like this: These are all to be sold at Cherry Creek during the 4th of July weekend.

Meg at the Mirror is one of the small pieces I'm preparing for the Cherry Creek Art Festival in Denver. For about 15 years I made my living selling my pastels through galleries and outdoor art festivals. During those years, there were probably about 10 festivals in the US that required original only work, no reproductions, and those were the shows I preferred. People were more knowledgeable about art at those shows, and were more willing to pay for it. And the chance that I'd wind up parked next to someone selling bird houses made of popsicle sticks was pretty slim. Not that there's anything wrong with making bird houses out of popsicle sticks. But about 4 years ago, art sales slowed down, hotel and gas prices leaped, and art festivals started doubling their booth fees. It was getting harder and harder to make a profit. Especially when you consider how much of my time was spent traveling to and from the shows, which were in Denver, Sausalito, Chicago, Miami, New York... So ...

TIRED OF GREEN is a 5x7 pastel on Pastelbord. Everything is green. Magazines tell me how to decorate green. Grocery shelves are filled with new 'green' household cleaners. Makeup is green. Cars are green. I'm turning green. Sorry. Not feeling too politically correct.

JESSICA is a 5x7 pastel on Pastelbord. Jessica posed for a class I taught a few weeks ago at Rome Street Gallery and Art Supplies, in Carrollton GA, 10 minutes from my home (that's a plug for you, Pam), which just moved into their new home on Bradley Street. Lovely people who own the business.

After years of drought, we in Atlanta are getting days and days of glorious rain. First thing I do every morning is fix my coffee and take it with me as I walk through the garden to see what surprises await. My 3 cats (Raindrop, Frou-Frou and Boo) inevitably appear from nowhere and follow me around, Raindrop always underfoot and in my way if I decide to pull weeds. After an all-night rain like last night, some things have grown 3 inches overnight. It's incredible. Can't wait to go out tomorrow morning. And we're expecting 3 days of rain!!!!!!! This of course has nothing to do with my Sleeping Nude. Just felt like writing.