The holidays proved to be quite busy. Jean got a virus that kept her home for about 3 weeks so I attended dinners, open houses, and other holiday events by myself. Thankfully, she’s feeling better in the last few days. After a week of cold and sunshine today it is snowing and still cold. Can we make it through the winter without dashing for sunshine in the southland?

We have begun to plan for our next Travels With Picasso. Picasso will be our home on the Columbia River for a week in May. We love that time of year in the eastern Washington desert. Then we will travel to the Canadian Rockies for a couple of weeks in June-July. I will be attending a Liz Wiltzen studio art workshop for 5 days. Jean will be painting the scenery. We also plan to take Picasso to Mt. Rainier in August for a camping/art trip. Undoubtedly we will be planning other adventures as the year goes along. Yes, we also have begun preliminary discussions about a return to Europe.

In addition to holiday partying I spent a great deal of time in my “new” studio. All three easels were in operation at one time! It has been fun to paint pictures from our travels. A few of the works in progress are below. The block prints are carved in lino blocks, printed on watercolor paper and then colored with watercolor. Etretat France is one of the most painted places. Artists have been traveling there to paint for at least 200 years. I couldn’t resist trying my hand at the arch painted by so many of my artistic idols. The redwing blackbird is taken from a photo I captured on a hike in California. I wasn’t sure how the rear view of a landing would work, but I like it.

Happy New Year.

Paul

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