You may have been wondering what happened last week when my usual cheerful email didn’t appear in your inbox. I try not to miss a week very often. Even when I’m traveling and far from home, I usually manage to keep in touch and write to you every week. Most of the time I’m upbeat and happy about my career and the blessings in my life… in fact, I’m usually just thrilled with life itself. I’m a person who always tries to “keep on the sunny side,” and I know I’ll find my way back to feeling that way again,…

Looks like another hot and humid weekend ahead, but I’ll be cooling off at Wendell August Forge on Saturday July 22nd at their exciting Christmas in July celebration. You can find me, as usual, hanging out with my homeboy Santa, and we’ll be ho-ho-ho-ing it up from 11 AM to 3 PM. CLICK HERE to view my Calendar of Events and find out more about this and other upcoming events. Come see my new ornaments in person, and I will sign and personalize them for you. You can even have free pictures taken with Santa. (Idea – a family photo…

This is the official release date of my newest painting, “All Aboard with Santa,” the third limited-edition giclee print in my five-year “Jolly Old Elf” series. I’m especially proud of this painting! The whole time I was creating it, I was musing over the backstory in my head. “Delivering toys to all the children of the world can get very tiring at times, and sometimes even Santa needs a break. As he walks around the house, he smiles as he spots milk and cookies and an old train set. He can’t resist! The next thing you know, the Jolly Old…

On Sunday, our family visited Kennywood for the first time in three years. It’s hard to believe it had been that long. The park used to be a big part of our summer; in fact, I was a vendor at their summer festivals for 18 consecutive years. But this time we were there strictly for the fun of it! We brought our granddaughter for her first Kennywood experience, and like any true Pittsburgh kid, she loved it! She never even took a nap – she was fascinated by everything going on around her. She laughed and smiled all day, and…

What an amazing couple of weeks I’ve had in New Mexico… between the life-changing art convention and our wonderful vacation, I’ve been inspired to say the least. We took hundreds of pictures of our trip to New Mexico because we wanted to remember everything. So we couldn’t resist one last snapshot before leaving Taos. We certainly look happy, don’t we? When we finally rolled up in front of the house on Saturday morning, Tom and I were delighted to see that the flowers in our garden here in Pittsburgh had grown into giants. Thanks to the good care given by…

Today is our last day in New Mexico, a place I’ve fallen in love with in the past two weeks. But even though I’m sorry to leave it behind, I’m excited to return home to my family, my business, and my painting. This week in Taos has been nothing short of amazing. Tom and I have been doing a lot of hiking and exploring the history of New Mexico. One of the highlights was visiting Ghost Ranch, where painter Georgia O’Keefe first fell in love with the West. I read that when she arrived at Ghost Ranch, she looked around…

They call New Mexico “The Land of Enchantment,” and with good reason… I must admit I have fallen under its spell! As I mentioned in my last email, I’m in Albuquerque, New Mexico, kicking back and enjoying a little getaway with Tom after a whirlwind week at the IAPS Convention. The Convention was truly life-changing! I met amazing artists from all over the world and learned from wonderful master instructors, each one with their own technique of painting with pastels. There were painting contests and a huge pastel art show. There was never a dull moment, and definitely no chance…

I’m sorry I missed writing to all of you last week. My father-in-law has been very ill, and we’ve been focused on trying to get him the best care possible. It has been a quite a struggle, but I’m happy to say he is now in good hands and responding well to his new medication. Of course, making it to age 90 is already beating the odds, and we know we have been very blessed to have him with us for so long. His recent health problems, however, have been very severe. For a while, we weren’t sure he would…

As I’m writing this, my family and I are cheering the Pens’ Game 7 victory in the Stanley Cup playoffs. We’re so thrilled to see the Pens move on to the Finals! The timing is perfect because I’ve just completed an original painting of one of my personal heroes, Pens captain Sid Crosby. Needless to say, he’s grown up quite a bit since he was dubbed “Sid the Kid!” Coincidentally, Sid suffered a serious concussion in a game a few years ago, while at the very same time, my daughter Brittany also received the terrifying news that she had sustained…