In Between….

In between working on Gracie and simple everyday stuff, a few events sneak in.  Parkville Plein Air was last week, with a wonderful workshop with Debra Joy Groesser.  She is one of the top female plein air painters, and I was fortunate to afford a workshop with her.  To make it just about perfect as you can get, the weather was great AND the workshop was small.  She is a very good teacher, and I had some AH HA moments, which I cherish.  Referring to Kevin Macpherson and his techniques, she drove some of the points home and a light came on for me.  Kevin is a very good teacher, but with a humongous crowd of students demanding his attention, it was limited the time you were allotted with his eye on your work and efforts. Debra had also done a workshop with him, so she was very in tuned to his methodology.

Parkville Plein Air show is currently at the Train Depot in Parkville MO.  It hangs through Nov. 12.

I did this sunset painting the first day/ evening of the plein air event.

Friday and Sat. was the workshop.  It was very convenient for Debra to have us all in one area to save time between critiques.  

In the throws of last week I decided to bit the bullet and get this puppy.  I had been searching the web and shelters for a rescue dog with no luck.  I visited a shelter, and it was so depressing I couldn't take another visit.  A friend suggested a poodle, and another friend suggested a Havanese.  I wanted a small dog, easy personality, no shedding and smart.  He fit the bill.  He will be nearly 10 weeks old when we pick him up next week.  I am reading up on Ceasars training techniques.  I sure did a poor job in the past being a 'pack leader'.  So this time I am going to try my best to do a better job.  He  will be home with us next week!  His current name is Maxxie.  It may stick, but I may have another name for him.