All my frames that I recently ordered have arrived and they seem to be pretty good. I also ordered backing boards as well, so I'm all set for a while.

On Saturday last week we went down to Boston to a gallery on Newbury Street, to see an exhibit of pastel paintings done by my art instructor in Maine. Then we went to Blick's art store and picked up some framing necessities. After we left there we went for Ice Cream!!

I have done a couple of new pictures since my last entry, but I forgot to photograph them before they were framed. It's difficult to get a decent photo once they are framed because of the reflections of the flash and other things in the vicinity. One of them I may try and take out, because I also forgot to sign it.

This week I picked up my three paintings that were in the art show in town and have been hanging in the library for the month of July. I'm running out of wall space here. I'm going to have to be more selective.

This is a painting I've spent the last few days on. When I first started on it, I was convinced that I wasn't going to be able to do it, but as I got more and more into the work it all started to come together and I'm quite pleased with the result. I think I may enter this one in a juried art show later this year.

This is from a photo I took of a typical doorway in New Mexico. It looks out onto the "most photographed church in the State". It is typical of the look of the entrances to houses in New Mexico - adobe walls and colorful doors. When I took the photo there was a man there with a far more sophisticated camera taking pictures from all angles - including laying on the ground. In fact, his foot was actually in the bottom right of my photo and I had to edit it out when I was painting. I think this is actually a door into a small addition, or maybe a courtyard, as it was attached to a larger building on the left.

I just sent off an order for some frames this morning. Framing is a big concern because it can be very expensive and as yet I am not selling my art, but in order to exhibit in shows I really need to have the pictures decently framed. Presentation is really important for sales. I have found some frames on-line that seem reasonable so I'm anxious to see them.

This picture is another beach scene, the same as the first one posted some time ago, but I did this one on better paper and I think it came out better.

I just took delivery yesterday of some new pastels that I ordered. They came really quick, I ordered the on the 12th July and they arrived on the 15th. These are Mount Visions and I love them. Of course getting 50 new pastels then meant that I had to spend an hour rearranging my pastel box which John made for me a couple of weeks ago. As you can see the box allows me to have all my colors set out according to value (by value I mean light to dark...not cost) and color regardless of brand, so that I can see at a glance what I have. It's much more convenient than having them all in different boxes.

I have started another picture. I'm going back to trying my hand at flowers again and so far it's coming along quite nicely. I'm enjoying it.

When we went to the 4th July festivities on the town common, we walked past a small pond behind the bank and there in the reeds was this bird's nest. I took the photo and thought I would like to have a go at doing a painting of it. Wasn't sure I could pull it off, but it was fun to do.

Everybody who exhibited at the Art Show is eligible to have their paintings hung in our town library for the month of July and this evening I am taking them down there. We are having some strong thunderstorms today but hopefully they will have stopped by the time I get there.

Went to pick up my award on the eve of 4th July. Very exciting! Interestingly, in both the Professional and Non-Professional "Art under Glass" classes at the Art Show, both the first prizes went to pastel paintings, even though there was some stiff competition from very good watercolors. Pastels are often regarded as the poor relation in terms of acceptance, so this was an encouraging sign.

Yesterday we went to a 4th July party at a house on a lake and I took a lot of photographs hoping that I will have captured something that will make a good subject for a painting.