ANNETTE IN RED II, sold

"ANNETTE IN RED II" is a 5x7 pastel on PastelBord. Bidding begins at $100.00.







This is Annette again, model from my last Chattanooga workshop.

In case anybody's been wondering where I've been, two weeks ago I was teaching a 3 day workshop at the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn, a bed and breakfast in the Hudson Valley, upstate New York. The owners, Mark and Kim LaPolla, were lovely hosts--he's a chef and we dined royally each night. They have an art studio in the carriage house, and enough rooms to accommodate 19 people. It was lush and green up there after weeks of rain. Made me very jealous to leave what should have been a lush a green place in the south and find it lusher and greener way up north. Gardens were glorious.

I left there, flew out to Denver for the Cherry Creek Art Festival, where my husband was waiting for me at the airport. He had driven my van from Atlanta, loaded with my art and booth. Denver was also beautiful and green, gardens at their prime. We had heavy rain that weekend, something that's not a little daunting during an art festival. We got to visit with an old friend from my adolescence; we were little hoydens way back then, terrorizing our neighborhood and Lenox Square in the mid 1960's. Nydia's now retiring from a teaching career and heading to California with her husband to be closer to their daughter. I know it's hard to believe, but she hasn't changed a bit since she was 13.



Then from Denver we drove to Tularosa, New Mexico, where the skies reminded me of NC Wyeth illustrations (may I bore you with photos?), to visit another old friend from my high school days. DJ and her husband took us one evening to their cabin in the mountains; on our way home that night we passed a herd of elk, grazing by the road. There had to have been 40 of them. We stopped the car, with the headlights pointed at them so we could see them, and watched for a good 5 minutes. It was magical.













But I must say that one of the more memorable moments of our trip was the visit to the world's largest pistachio. And here's a photo to prove it.













Just in case you've ever wondered what a pistachio looks like on a tree. I always did.
















As beautiful as it all was, it's good to be home. I may try to do some paintings of the beautiful western skies. Though I know there's nothing to compare with the original.