Near Rio Rico - and a Good Show

Near Rio Rico

Oil on canvas 10x10

Hi, everybody! I am well, and fine, and painting like a demon out here in Arizona. 

The Tubac Arts Festival was good to me - but loooong. Five days' worth of long. Someone told me they heard that it's a great two-day festival that takes five days - and I'd agree. 

I will say that there were people there. They came in cars, they came by foot, they came on buses from cities and towns all around. Most were on a day's outing, perhaps interested in buying mementos and knickknacks, but not art. A guy next to me sold thousands and thousands and THOUSANDS of dollars' worth of decorative metal pieces you hang on the outside of your house. Up the street, a couple selling decorated spoons and ice cream scoops did well. 

A painter across the way and a jeweler with beautiful but very pricey stuff went home midway through the show. One might have been a family emergency (or so I heard), but the other, who knows. His stuff was gorgeous but expensive. I tried on a bracelet that was $2800. Yikes! 

Three of my paintings sold, and so that's great. And better than that, even, is that I got into a lovely gallery here in town, Art Gallery H. That was one of my goals for the trip, to be represented by a Tubac gallery, and so... Yay! 

The best thing about the show was that my friend Cynthia Battista was also in it, and we were side by each. So during the long days, the sales and the no-sales, we had each other to talk to and commiserate with. And I had a great time hanging out with Cynthia, her husband Kevin and their dogs Zack and George, in the days after the show. 

It's wonderful to spend time with my dad and Paula, my stepmother, too. They have a beautiful home, and while they have a tremendously busy social life, we've been able to carve out time here together to talk and laugh and share experiences and memories. Dad and I have painted together once, and I'm looking forward to the next time, which will be after an upcoming trip to the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. 

Here's my painting in the landscape

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Here's Cynthia in her booth. She makes gorgeous jewelry, different than any I've ever seen. Check out her website by clicking here. 

Here's her husband, Kevin Ireton. He and I tried on hats in a store in Tubac while Cynthia was trying on clothes. I think we had more fun! 

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The Santa Rita Mountains, which stand to the east of Tubac, are spectacular at any time of day - but in the evening, they catch the colors of the sunset - amazing. 

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This lovely couple bought "Through the River," the lower painting on the wall. They told me they were going to repaint the room where they would hang it, to make the painting stand out better! 

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Dad wants to learn how to paint with a palette knife, so I let him paint some of the background of a dog portrait I'd been painting. He did a great job! 

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 Dogs of the Day

George (left) and Zack came out to Tubac with Cynthia and Kevin. George and Zack are the best of friends, though George does let Zack lick him until he gets bald spots. Sigh. How we show love, eh?