The Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year! Can you believe it? After the show skipped last year and closed early in 2020 because of the pandemic, I am super excited and more than ready to be back. I’m so full of adrenaline that I feel as if I could float off into the air! I pretty much have everything in order, which is a bit unusual for me. On Sunday, we will be renting our U-Haul truck and loading it up for a Tuesday morning move-in. Then it will be full days of set-up and organizing until the…

Well, maybe not exactly two weeks… but it’s just 11 days (not that I’m counting) until the opening of the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show! More reliable than the Groundhog, the show is known to be the first sign of spring in Pittsburgh. As the show is celebrating its 40th year, it’s been 27 years since I was the only artist on the second floor of the old Convention Center. My booth was set up between windows and bathtubs. We were allowed to put up balloons back then, so I did it hoping it would help passersby notice me. People…

Though the past week’s weather has been anything but spring-like, I’ve been making great progress on my new painting, “Springtime in Mellon Green Park.” A few days ago, I was at the stage of the painting where I had to decide whether to put someone in the composition, and if so, where was just the right spot?  And who could I possibly use as a model? Hmm… I know! “Hey Tom, would you mind going downtown to Mellon Green and posing for me on a bench?” Normally, there wouldn’t be a problem with that… except that this week we had a…

According to Punxsutawney Phil, it looks like we’re in for six more weeks of winter. Well, for those of us who only like a little bit of winter, (you know, the “I like the different seasons” thing), this is not what we wanted to hear from our friend, the weather-predicting rodent! Though my garden looks pretty nice decorated with all that white flaky stuff, I believe I’m ready to enjoy the first signs of spring. Of course, painting a springtime scene at Mellon Green (which I will be sharing with you soon) is an acceptable substitute for now. At least…