Well, I have to admit it, I can't keep up the "daily painter" pace. I was doing 4 to 5 paintings a week, but it's too much. I can do it once in awhile, but not continuously. So you won't see me in the Daily Painter .com website. I want to keep working on my big paintings, as well as smaller ones. But what I've been doing a lot lately is working on our house and garden- we've got the Open Studio Tour coming up in just a month. The last weekend in May. There is so much to do to make the place presentable. Right now I'm sort of feeling frantic- like not only will we not be ready for the show, but we'll never get all the things that need doing, done. Like a fence around the top part of the property to keep the deer out so I can have flowers...we have a fence around the vegetable garden and the orchard, but I'd like to landscape around the house and the driveway...and we don't even have a pump house yet! Everything is just covered with silly silver tarps. Not good. I also really need a garden shed, and we've got to put a real roof on the "Chipmonk Chateau", or it will rot. It will make a great guest cottage if we ever get it done. It's a 20 x8' wood office trailer, what we lived in for 2 years while we were building our big house. I can't believe we lived in that for 2 years! We did have the little RV with the mini kitchen and toilet and table, but I was really going crazy having to cook in that. What a huge relief to move into the real house. Even though the kitchen is still in the basement, and we don't have a bedroom yet, (we sleep in the living room) it's fabulous.

I hope you can visit us during the tour!

Oh, one other good thing I want to report: I got a check for a painting that sold for $800. at the store in Berkeley! For me, that's fabulous. I know it's not much for all of you who sell your work for thousands- but I'm happy! So that nearly makes up for the fact that we have been having the most rotten cold spring I've ever had, and last night all my figs got offed by the frost. Today I put plastic over my almond trees. I sure hope it saves the little almonds. They're loaded with nuts right now. I will be really sad if I lose them. It's supposed to SNOW tonight! If not tonight, then tomorrow night! That's global warming- just messing with the weather. The poor native Alaskans are stranded because their land is defrosting to the point the sled dogs can't pull the sleds for falling through the ice, but it's not open enough to boat; and we are losing our food to frost. My friend Lucille told me she's lost all her fruit crops but apples and pears. The buds came out on the peaches and apricots, plums, persimmons, and many other things, and then 3 nights of 20 degrees, and they're all toast...Lucille has a real orchard, with lots of incredible trees and normally tons of fruit, which she graciously shares, as well as selling at Pam's fruit stand. Now she won't be able to. She'll lose out on food and income. I don't know about you, but a lot of us up here are really hurting now, with the price of food and the price of gas.

"The Cat Woman Instantly Recognizes Buddha and Invites Him For Tea"

10"x 14" Watercolour/Gouache/Ink $150.

"The Cat Woman Realizes We Are All One"

10"x 14" Watercolour/Gouache/Ink $150.

"The Cat Woman Instantly recognizes Krishna and Invites Him For Tea"

(Not to be confused with the [hopefully] soon to be seen version in large format acrylic paint)








10"x 14" Watercolour/Gouache/Ink $145.