Bonjour! C’est Linda!

Yes, Tom and I finally made it to Canada yesterday. We’re in the beautiful Province of Quebec and trying to brush up on our Canadian French… which isn’t going too well. Fortunately, we’ve met only kind and patient people so far!

My 50-year High School Class Reunion was a hit! Seeing old friends and making new relationships made the day delightful! So many memories that I hadn’t thought about in ages led to lots of laughter and wonder. I loved it when some of the guys and gals recalled the days when they skipped school in our senior year and the hijinks that ensued! Let’s just say the 70’s was an interesting time to be young! Yet somehow, everyone turned out just fine.

Before we headed north to New Hampshire to see the rest of my sister’s family, we were able to meet up with my nephew Jon and my high school bestie and her husband.

After the last couple of months with all that was happening with our granddaughter and knowing that she’s on the road to recovery now, we felt comfortable taking some R&R and spending this time relaxing.

With the release of my new calendar last Friday (70 pre-orders already!) we thought we’d take a little bit of Pittsburgh along with us just for fun!

So don’t be surprised if you should see my calendar pop up every now and again along the route of our travels. Flat Stanley now has a new look!

Though the calendar was for sale at my reunion (and one was won in a raffle!), it didn’t show up in any photo that I have access to. However, it did show up on the Kancamagus Highway, heading up through the White Mountains. My niece, Donna, posed for me at a cute old-fashioned store in the Clark’s Bears Trading Post. (As a teenager, Donna was painted twice by me in “Skating Together at PPG.”)

The calendar also made an appearance for this newsletter in the lovely garden at our B&B in Magog, Canada.

When you purchase my calendar, you’re purchasing more than just a Pittsburgh Calendar… you’re collecting memories.

My 2027 Pittsburgh calendar features 13 of my handpicked paintings and one extra bonus center-spread poster! Plus, I will personally sign each calendar in gold before mailing them out! Pre-order your 12” x 12” calendar, printed on silk paper, from now until July 4th by following this link to order…2027 Pittsburgh Calendar – Linda Barnicott Publishing, LLC

Calendars will ship beginning July 10th.

In celebration of 250th birthday of the United States of America, we’re running a special contest! For each calendar you purchase (they make great gifts for family, friends, and colleagues!), your name will be entered to win a $250.00 certificate to use toward any of my prints and gift items. The more you buy, the more chances to win!

Join in on the excitement and the celebration – order yours today!

More to come from Canada!

Hi, it’s Linda!

The big day has finally arrived!

For years, I’ve been thinking about creating a calendar showcasing my art. I tried to develop one last year, but I couldn’t find a manufacturer with an acceptable design that I liked. Tom and I have been traveling in Europe and collecting calendars on each trip we take. We collected some beautiful ones, including a calendar of Monet’s Garden in France. After enjoying these calendars year after year, I wondered if I could develop one with the help of my artistically creative daughter, Brittany. Could we do it on our own?

(The answer was Yes!)

So now I’m thrilled to introduce my own 2027 Pittsburgh Art Calendar. It features 13 of my handpicked paintings plus a bonus center-spread poster.

Today, I’m launching my new calendar and offering you an additional incentive to buy – to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States of America, we’re running a special giveaway.  For each calendar you purchase (they make great gifts for family, friends, and colleagues!), your name will be entered to win a $250.00 certificate to use toward any of my prints or gift items. The more calendars you buy, the more chances to win!

You can pre-order your 12” x 12” calendar, printed on silk paper and signed personally in gold, from now until July 4th by following this link…

2027 Pittsburgh Calendar – Linda Barnicott Publishing, LLC

Calendars will ship beginning July 10th.

Join in on the excitement and the celebration and order yours today!

In other news, Tom and I leave today for my 50-year high school class reunion outside of Philly, followed by a road trip up to Quebec City for some much-needed R&R! We will return on July 5th – just in time to get ready for Picklesburgh!

After that, I hope I’ll be able to focus on painting for the rest of the summer. Our granddaughter Abigail is doing much better since her operation. We hope she’ll continue to overcome ARFID along with her anxiety and OCD to start really getting back to eating and drinking. We remain hopeful.

Have a great week!

In our day-to-day travels around the city, Tom and I have been noticing more and more celebratory items for sale for the 250th birthday of our beautiful land, the United States of America.

I was looking for some memorabilia for my upcoming 50-year class reunion, and I came across one of my journal entries from 1976. I literally drove across the country on July 4th, 1976, after attending my nephew’s baptism in Kansas. All the way from Kansas to Pennsylvania, there were fireworks everywhere. I wrote about the tall ships and about Denmark celebrating with us in solidarity. It was the bicentennial year, and I had just graduated a month earlier with a red, white, and blue tassel hanging from my cap.

This year, I had the honor of painting “Our Lady of Liberty” to celebrate 250 years of the American Dream. The New York scene showcases the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of hope and freedom.

If you would like to purchase a print (or the ornament) of your own for the Fourth of July holiday, orders need to be received by next Wednesday, the 3rd of June.

Tom and I will be leaving town again at the crack of dawn Friday morning for my class reunion in Philadelphia. We will then continue on to Quebec for our summer vacation and won’t return home until July 5th!

Here is the link for your convenience:

https://lindabarnicott.com/product/our-lady-of-liberty/

My new project is going to be delivered tomorrow! My website still isn’t quite ready, so I guess I’ll have to keep it under wraps for one more week. As I always say… Stay tuned!

Have a great week, and please keep my granddaughter Abigail in your prayers. She has an operation Friday night to insert a G-tube to help her continue to get better. So far, she has gained almost 6 pounds!

We really appreciate all your prayers and support! It’s been a long road, but she’s happy and is starting to eat and drink orally again!

PS – It’s a slow process, especially with all that has transpired over the last couple of months, but here is an update on my progress on the Heinz Hall painting. I have the background in, and now onto the centerpiece of the work – the building itself!

Abigail lives with us Monday through Friday during the day and one night overnight. It’s been good to see her becoming increasingly comfortable with the NG tube. Though she’s still not eating orally, we are getting her to taste foods throughout the day.

The good news is that I feel ready to get back to work in my studio, as well as around the house in general. This week, I’ve somehow managed both!

May I introduce you to our new garden? Gardening, to me, is like painting the yard with color and texture.  Flowers, what can I say… they bring Tom and me tremendous joy. As a matter of fact, one of my friends quoted “The Earth laughs in flowers” (Ralph Waldo Emerson). That quote really brought a smile to my face!

This spring, we planted earlier than we usually do. We both felt that we needed a garden reset. Now everything is new and fresh, and it’s on its way to becoming the cottage garden full of perennials that I’ve always dreamed of. I feel as if it reflects the new hope we have for our little family.

I also sat down in my studio and finally finished the sketch of my new Heinz Hall painting. As you know, it’s a long process. I usually start with a detailed sketch. Some of you may remember that this is followed by a very quick watercolor wash. It acts as a roadmap for me. Once I add the pastels, all the lines from the sketch go away, and the watercolor helps me see the detail.

Recently, I asked you to vote whether the painting should be set in the Summer or Winter season. In the end, (trumpet fanfare, please!) Summer was the winner!

So, think fresh air, summer colors, nostalgic lights, with patrons gathering together for a night of music. Use your imagination, close your eyes, and you can hear the music in the air. The anticipation of listening to violins, cellos, flutes, horns, and clarinets filling the hall is delightful!

As you can see, I’ve started with my soft pastels, and soon the painting will come to life. I’ll keep you posted throughout the process.

Well, this has been an interesting week! I finished my private commission, and the couple picked it up today. They were very happy. I had sent them photos along the way so they could watch the progress. They really enjoyed seeing it develop!

My eye surgery was this week, as well as my birthday. And this year I received the best birthday gift ever – meet Mia! She is 12 weeks old, and she is so sweet! It didn’t take her long to become family. Get this – no hissing, no clawing, only loving! I held her for 50 minutes in the car on the way home and wasn’t scratched once!

So, I can’t paint for another week, but it’s pretty awesome to see again! It’s going to take me a while to process all this happiness!

Then, because I wasn’t supposed to do anything after my surgery, we hopped into a car and drove to Petland at the Norwin Towne Center. I figured I was at least allowed to ride in a car!

They had just gotten in a bunch of kittens from a shelter, and we were one of the first to see them. Mia was pretty, lovable, and very sweet! She’s already fitting in beautifully and making her place in our home.

So, since I can’t paint, I might as well share a little lovin’ with our new furry friend!

Another bit of good news this week – our granddaughter Abigail began her therapy for her eating disorder, ARFID. She is starting to return to our happy Abigail again! Though it’s been difficult, she has a huge village around her for support.

Have a great week!

P.S. – Remember your graduate with a painting! Pennsylvania Universities – Linda Barnicott Publishing, LLC

It’s been an eventful month…

There was the unveiling of “Our Lady of Liberty,” which was quite a momentous occasion, with more press coverage than I had imagined.  In addition, I participated in two new Home Shows in Montour and in Bethel Park’s Cool Springs Sports Complex, both of which I’m certain I’ll be returning to next year. I did, however, visit our friends at the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show downtown.

I also led a workshop on business development for fellow artists (pic above). And keeping with tradition, we bought our Girl Scout Cookies.  Then this weekend, Tom and I spent an entire day gardening in our backyard, cutting down lots of branches (filling eight large bags!). Of course, this was followed the next day by four inches of snow!

As if that weren’t enough, I’m painting a commission as well as getting ready for cataract surgery on March 31st and April 14th.

I’m sure it will feel weird to be mostly idle while my eyes heal. I hope I’ll be able to get back to painting ASAP because I need to get started on a new piece featuring concertgoers heading into Heinz Hall. I’ve been working on this over the last year, taking photos, and studying the corner of Sixth and Penn in all kinds of weather.

So, let me ask you, which season would you like to see in this painting – Winter with snow glistening? or Summer with flowing dresses and suits in a gentle breeze? I would love to hear your thoughts because I can’t decide!

While you’re thinking about that, I have one more announcement! I have been asked when the painting, “Our Lady of Liberty,” will be available on my website. I can finally say it – this is the week!

There are 250 prints in the limited signed and numbered edition. The 250 is for the Birthday of the Declaration of Independence, and they sell for $175.00.  The Artist Proofs, which are also signed, are an edition of 25 and sell for $225.00. For both editions, the size is 18” x 24.”

There are also ornaments, which are a bit larger and a different shape than my regular ones, and they sell for $29.00. The are handmade in aluminum and measure 2.75” x 4.”

With each sale of any of these, I’m donating the proceeds from the sales of any of the Liberty items to the Bethel Park Community Foundation. It was an honor to have been chosen to create this painting, and I hope you enjoy it.

To me, “Our Lady of Liberty” represents the hope and the dreams of everyone who has come to America searching for liberty and justice. It’s a painting about hope for today and the promise of tomorrow.

You’ll find several notable Pittsburghers represented in this painting, including Andrew Carnegie who gave the gift of libraries and music halls; playwright August Wilson, who chronicled the African-American experience in his remarkable plays; and Mister Rogers, who taught generations of children to believe in themselves and take care of one another.

So why not commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States of America with this celebratory print? Just click here to order.

Ornaments can be found here. Again, proceeds from sales of prints and ornaments go to the Bethel Park Community Foundation.

As I get ready to dive back into painting, I want to wish you a great week and thank you for all your support throughout the year.

Hi, it’s Linda!

You know… the artist who started at the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show 29 years ago? When we made the decision not to participate this year, I had no idea how much I would miss it.

I literally started the Artists’ Aisle years and years ago. In my first year at the old Convention Center, I was the only artist on the second floor. My booth was between bathtubs and windows. People told me that my booth was like having dessert after all those garage doors and garden sheds! For 8 years, I remained the only artist exhibitor until we moved to the new Convention Center, when show owner John DeSantis decided to create an Interior Design section. My booth was located right at its beginning facing the lobby.

Tom and I were driving last week during the time when I would have been setting up at the Convention Center, and we were talking about how we would missing our old friends at the show. After reminiscing for a while, we came up with a fun way to remember the show by having an “online show” of my own. A Stay-Home Show!

I’ve always had an online show! So, in keeping with my 28-year history with the Home and Garden Show, you can visit my website (lindabarnicott.com) and receive 10% off and Free Shipping on orders over $26.00. Ironically, the code will be SPRING26. This offer is valid for the remainder of the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show which ends tomorrow, Sunday, March 15^th.

The only exclusions will be candles, as always, and the Specialty Gift categories.

In the meantime, life without the show isn’t so bad. I’m painting!

Have a great weekend, and I hope you enjoy my online Stay-Home Show!

The title of today’s blog relates to our experiences at last week’s South Hills Home Show at AHN Cool Springs Sports Complex in Bethel Park.

From the moment we arrived Thursday to set up, the other vendors went out of their way to welcome us and to help us carry everything in. Friends and customers stopped by to tell me they were so glad I was there and that they found me! On Friday, Andy from Evey Hardware showcased our booth on BPTV. And on Saturday, KDKA’s Rob Pratte Live interviewed me for about 20 minutes. He asked questions about my career and told me how much he treasured the portrait that I painted years ago of his children and his train set-up. It was a portrait that I dearly loved painting.

A young man who modeled for my painting of “Riding Kennywood’s Auto Race and Train” wanted to show me how little he was when I painted the piece back in 2002!