Guess where I’m writing from this week? I’m on a train, coming home from visiting with my dearest and oldest friends, Kathy and Ron, in New Jersey. When I was a child, my family spent just about every weekend from April until September on our boats on Barnegat Bay. On our first outing on our boat, “The Gibson Girl,” we had engine trouble. My mom was very concerned while my dad was trying to fix the engine and asked him if she should call for help. My dad said no and that he had this. She immediately walked over to…

I’m exhibiting at a brand new show this Saturday! It’s a celebration of Pittsburgh called “412 Fest” (referring to our Pittsburgh 412 area code). The festival will be held at Bakery Square in East Liberty on Saturday, April 12 (4/12 – get it?). If you live nearby or happen to be in the East End that day, I would love to have you stop by and say hi. We’ll be there from noon until 4 pm, with lots of ideas for birthday or anniversary gifts (or maybe just to treat yourself!). We can’t wait to participate in what looks like a really fun event! As I come…

My husband and I have always dreamed of travel. As a kid, I was very blessed to have parents who had boats and sailing vessels that I enjoyed every weekend until I married and moved to Pittsburgh. Tom didn’t have many opportunities to travel with his family, and when we got married, we dreamed of seeing the country together. Each year after a hectic holiday season (especially the Holiday Market in Downtown Pittsburgh), we’d take a January trip to escape from the cold. All we could think about was getting away to a warm southern climate. As a result of all…

With the successful completion of another Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show, I want to say thanks to my crazy helpers! I wish I had a photo with all of you, but THANK YOU! Shows are awfully taxing when setting up and tearing down, but my helpers always make the job so enjoyable! This morning, I was on the phone with a dear artist friend who seemed to be having trouble getting back to the studio. We were talking about how to get inspired, and I suggested she try one of my old tricks – hanging out in her art studio and…

This week, I have some exciting news to share with you – I sold an original!!! It’s always a joyous time when I know that one of my paintings is going to a happy home, and it’s not unusual at all to find out that one of my pieces has deeply touched the heart of its buyer. But this one is a bit different; it was a very emotional experience for me. With the ongoing situation in Ukraine, my painting, “Unbroken – The Heart of Ukraine,” has been on my mind lately. It’s been nearly three years since I painted the pastel.…

Can it be spring yet? Please? I don’t know about you, but I was born in April and I am definitely a spring baby. Well, maybe not a baby anymore! This year I’ll be 67, but being blessed to live in Pennsylvania, I have enjoyed spring every year since I was born. With just two weeks until the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show begins, I’m super excited about seeing and smelling spring flowers again… admiring beautiful landscaping… meeting first-timer visitors to the show… and of course, introducing my art to newcomers and creating new relationships. As I prepare for my 28th year…

It’s been quite a busy week. I was hoping to have a small painting from Portugal to share with you, but as John Lennon once said, “life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” But I’m almost there with the piece, so stay tuned… In the meantime, I’ve been starting to prepare for my next and oldest show. That’s right – The Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show, Pittsburgh’s traditional first sign of spring –  is just around the corner. This will be my 28th year as an exhibitor at the show, so at this point, The Home and Garden Show feels like…

So here we are back in Pittsburgh… we’re happy to be home again, but we’re not exactly sad that we missed the sub-zero weather. Portugal was a beautiful place – lots of mountains, lots of fruit trees, lots of ocean, and some of the nicest people!  I hope you enjoy a few of our favorite vacation pics. Our overseas trips have inspired me to create a series of paintings, one from each country we’ve visited. It will be really hard to choose just one subject! Currently, I’m painting a small seascape. One day, we were walking on the beach between…

It looks like we picked the perfect time to travel to escape from the Pittsburgh cold and snow! Though the weather forecast here says today may be our last sunny day on this trip, it’s so much warmer and quite beautiful here. I don’t understand a word of Portuguese, but the language sounds beautiful to my ears. Nearly everyone we have interacted with does understand and speak English, so we’ve been very fortunate. Tom and I spent two days in Sintra, a romantic old world town just north of Lisbon. Last night and this morning we spent time in Nazaré, a beach…

I don’t know about you, but I sure do hate to say goodbye to the lights and the sparkle of the Holiday Season. Tom and I have been driving around Pittsburgh this week, enjoying the last of the lights before midwinter takes over. Twelve years ago was the winter that I froze during the Holiday Market in that year’s Polar Vortex. I remember calling Tom from the Market and with chattering teeth, informing him that we were going to Florida the very moment that it was over! I had to get warm, and we were going no matter what! Well,…