The Holidays are here!

Holy cow. I can’t believe how quickly November flew by. I guess it’s because this is my busiest month ever! Art of the Carolinas, Dougy’s birthday, Zach’ birthday, Thanksgiving, and getting ready for the holidays! November started out sad. Kitty died on Nov. 1. I was happy though, that Zach got to see him resting peacefully the night before. We all reminisced about the many years together we had as a family. He was a big part of our lives. He’s even in our family portrait that Woody drew for us back in 2001. RIP Kitty!

AOC 2011 was a smashing success! We all had lots of fun painting, bargains galore, creativity flying all over the place, friends and family. A girl really couldn’t ask for much more. There are so many thank you’s to share. I’m almost afraid to start, in case I miss someone. First of all, thank you to Jerry for starting this company. None of this would be without that first step back in 1968. Next, thank you to my bosses, David and Ira Goldstein. Thank you for convincing me back in 2001 that this was a possibility and that I could pull a show like this off. Who would have known? Thank you to my new partner in creativity: Katie. Thank you for jumping right in and doing what you do. Thank you to the CMMAG girls for offering your blood, sweat and tears day in and day out for the love of art. You girls rock! Thank you to the store managers that fly in and work like crazy to get the show set up and organized and priced and ready by the wee hours of Friday morning and then only with a few hours of sleep share their knowledge and expertise with the droves of folks that come to the show on day one. Then get up and do it all again for the next couple of days, then fly back to their stores and open up on Monday morning! Thank you! Thank you to all the folks that show up year after year to help out in making this show a great success. And thank you to the instructors and vendors that fly in to share their knowledge with all of us. Most importantly, thank you to the folks that fly in, drive in and spend their vacation time with us here in Raleigh. This is truly a wonderful time for everyone involved to come and share our love of art together. This year’s slogan on the staff tees, wine bags and aprons is very appropriate I think: “My Life is Art. Art is my Life.” Simple as that! Thank you all for making this show so fun!

Thanksgiving was a great time! I cooked up a storm at the house and had family here to celebrate. It’s always such a great time of the year. I am truly thankful for such a loving family and the cozy aroma of a big turkey in the oven. Yum!

Joe and Zach

Mike and Marge

My sister Cindy is moving her shop in Key West across the street to a larger facility. She’s been in that building for about 20 years, so you can imagine the stuff she has accumulated! By the way, she is the upholsterer of Key West. Her place is called the Seam Shoppe. Anyway, I decided to fly down there to relax after Art of the Carolinas and help paint the new place. Oh wow, I knew it was going to be hard work, but I am a bit older that I thought I was…painting for eight hours a day and climbing up and down ladders and doing squats. Ouchy. By day three I could hardly move! Seriously. Back to paint more and more. Just trying to keep up with all the pieces Nick was creating was quite a challenge! Anyway, here are a few shots of the work in progress.

Back to reality now…I’ve only stolen a few choice sessions in the studio lately. One is to get my sketchbook project going and finished up. This has been a challenge – a good one at that. It has offered me a different way to think about creating and also working in a book format. Quite fun. Here are a couple of images.

I have also been working on a couple of linoleum carving prints with a tropical flair. Here are some shots from that project.

Then we have all the Christmas shopping and wrapping and food planning and holiday frenzie at the store. Interesting. I am so looking forward to spending time with my friends and family and getting some real studio time in, I can hardly breathe! I will be pulling out the encaustics before the end of the year. I have so much stored in my head that I really need to get it out on the board before too long!

Here’s wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy healthy New Year!

Cheers to you all and keep the paint flying.