MIKE BAILEY'S OPEN STUDIO! WOW!

It seems my life is full of wonderful art related activities but I don't seem to be getting much painting done! Today was very inspiring, however, so tomorrow I am determined to get paint to canvas. I am doing my next Frenchman - shape painting on a canvas!

First I went at noon to deliver my painting for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society annual show. They take the paintings directly into the Rose Shensen Gallery so it is impossible to get a look at anything. Very sneaky, these people. Friday I will get to see the show. Considering you don't have to be juried in, the quality of the show is always amazing. This group has a very talented membership.

Afterwards, my husband and I took off for Santa Cruz to attend Mike Bailey's Open Studio event. Today was the first day of a two weekend showing. Mike does such an amazing job of displaying his work plus his studio is to kill for so I thought I would take some photos and share with everyone. I start out with a photo of Mike and his adorable wife, Diana. Everyone should have such a supportive person in their life around their art. The back patio had 4 or 5 bins of matted paintings plus the fence that goes the length of the house and the tented part you can see. The dining room had screens set up with black draping and unframed small oils on the table with a few empty frames just the right size to "try out". He has built a temporary lighting frame for the ceiling. Access to the studio was from the back yard. Be sure and check out the sign above the brushes telling "the truth". I had a chance to sloooooowly browse through a new book by Nita Leland on color (Mike has 3 paintings in the book) that is so exciting, I can't wait to order it and use it in my own work and teaching.

TOMORROW I PAINT!