I’m really looking forward to my trip to New York for the opening of my show: A Step Beyond Ordinary. We’ll be in NY in August with family and friends. I will be posting lots after we get back. Hopefully, everything will go well: the paintings reach the gallery in one piece, the plane flights to and from, lots of people attend the show. Crossed fingers. I’m nervous about the evening. There are videos taken during the ceremonies - hope I don’t look and talk like an idiot. I really hope I SELL something. Wouldn’t that be a hoot! If you’re reading this now, I hope you can come by and say hi.

I like challenges. These three paintings WILL BE a challenge! I would like to begin a series of three paintings of photographs I took while I was in the service in Korea. I was an Army photographer and I had a day out to shoot what I wished. I went to the local park in Seoul, Korea, and watched families playing and enjoying their children. I garnered three particularly scenes that I have always loved. The first one is of siblings riding a tricycle. This is the one I will begin with. The second one is of three friends sharing secrets; I’ll try that one next. The third one is a mother with her child in a swing while the father takes a family photograph. I love all three for their spontaneity, their expressions, and their joy. It was a lovely day. These were taken in early 80s.

I’m still new at painting humans, so this will be a huge challenge for me. If I can pull it off, I think this series will be some of my best work. We’ll see.

Just finished this painting today. I’m liking it. I think the bleeding heart flower is so interesting to look at. It really does look like a bleeding heart. This was taken from a spring walk in downtown. It was fun to paint because of the color contrasts. Took me about a week with a lot of interruptions. Trying to tie up the loose ends for our trip to New York for my show.