The Following Sea - and a Not-So-Yay Day in Frederick

The Following Sea

Oil on canvas, 30x40

A couple years ago, Peter and I were driving across the Newport bridge, in Rhode Island, and I saw this sunset with the huge ocean and tiny boat.

I came home and painted it, and it was never quite right. But I knew there was something in it, so instead of covering it with another painting, I saved it.

Last week, I pulled it out and worked on it, and managed to find whatever it was that I was missing. Yay!

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NOT SO YAY was Saturday in Frederick, at least in terms of sales. But there were tons of nice and friendly people, and lots of folks said they would come back, were thinking of buying this or that... so we shall see.

It was brutally hot again yesterday, and today holds the same promise, with thunderstorms mixed in. So we shall see.

I had fun in spite of the slow sales and broiling heat. It's a pretty place for a show, the ducks were amusing, and I have nice artists on either side.

I do wish people would recognize how hot it is for their dogs, and leave them at home. I saw several dogs on the brink of heat stroke yesterday. Believe me, I love bringing the dogs, but not when it's this hot. Even without everything else, they are barefoot on the burning-hot bricks.

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SOME SCENES from the day:

This is the farm where I'm staying

Ducks on the canal that runs through the festival

 Here's the festival before opening on Saturday. There is an odd optical illusion here, isn't there? It looks like the stream is going downhill - but it is not. I guess the wall is going uphill!

Molly, one of the farm dogs, barking at me

Cows on the farm here in Monrovia, MD

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Dog of the Day

The dog of the day is Cora, who belongs to Ron DesJarlais's daughter Cait. I worked with Ron decades ago at The Westerly Sun. He is one of the best newsmen and designers I ever met, and a good person who always made me smile. Cora was a rescue from Tennessee - like Archie, yesterday's Dog of the Day!

Want your dog to be the Dog of the Day? Send me a jpg! 

New Delphiniums - and Hot, Hot, Hot!

 Delphiniums

Oil on canvas, 12x24

Please contact me for price and delivery options

Whatever else you can say about the life of an itinerant artist, there's one thing that's for sure: It involves a lot of hard labor. And yesterday, I felt it.

The venue in Frederick is pretty - a brick walkway, with a waist-height brick wall, a small slope of green, a secondary brick walkway, and then shops, the same pattern of each side of a small stream. (I'll post a photo tomorrow).

But it was 90 degrees or more as I carted my stuff in, and the sun baked down on the bricks, bounced and cooked and broiled and seared - and as much water as I drank, I couldn't keep up, and eventually stopped sweating, which I know is a sign of dehydration.

So I stopped, sat in the shade, drank even more water, remembered that I am 57, and there are no prizes for setting up quickly. Or even for getting it all done on the first day.

If you're in the area, please come by! The show is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. I'm in Booth 78, near Ben & Jerry's. Click here for more info.

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SPENT THE NIGHT in a B&B/family's house, pretty close to Frederick. While I have my issues with B&Bs (like, often, I really just don't want to talk to anyone after a show, no matter how nice they are), this one is OK. It's a farm, with horses and cows, and is beautiful and calming and lovely. Here's the view from my window:

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Dog of the Day

It's Archie! He belongs to my brother, sister-in-law and niece, 

and is just as great a dog as he appears to be.