Well, the Celebration Show is over and it's time to think about the next adventure!  We are heading to Texas, via Tucson and will check out galleries in this area and Las Cruces, NM.  It's all new territory for me.  

Scottsdale brought so many opportunities my way this year.  Hopefully a few new galleries, a few more shows and two workshops to teach.  I am making plans for a Vancouver, Canada workshop just after the 4th of July and maybe one in Hamilton, MT just before that.  I love teaching and it's a great way of paying for road trips and gathering resources, besides getting to know incredible artists along the way!  If you know of anyone interested in taking the classes, please have them email me - shankunz@earthlink.net!

Time to get some rest.  I will update as the adventure unfolds!

IT'S SPRING TRAINING BASEBALL SEASON!!!

Taking the day off from the tent today to go to an Angels game with my sweetie.  I think a little R&R is what the doctor ordered to get a second wind for the last leg of this marathon!

There are 13 days left for painting, selling, meeting and greeting at the Celebration of Fine Art in Scottsdale.  The show has been successful for so many artists this year.  I am so grateful for this opportunity!  

Summer looks to be shaping up busy as ever!  Shows with Mt. Trails in Jackson, plein air in Sun Valley, a few in Colorado and a road trip to Oregon and Montana painting....whewh......no rest this year!  Throw in a couple of great invitational shows and call it good.  Life is Great!!!  Anyone want to join in some plein air?

I'm staying home from the tent today to work on a watercolor commission for some very nice people. I can really use the time home unwinding in my comfy clothes, a ponytail and the comforting noise of a television set with nothing important on! It feels like a small touch of normalcy to this three month experience of Celebration of Fine Art. There are only three weeks left to the show and things are really getting busy around here! I have enjoyed myself down here, with the emotional rollercoaster of sales, meeting great people from all over the world, and truly immersing myself in my painting. There are so many facets to this show! The experiences that take place here are invaluable to artistic and personal growth. At some point throughout the show, I am positive that each and every artist down here asks themselves why they paint (or sculpt or anything they do), how can they get better, and what will the future hold. It's a perfect opportunity for self-analyzation and redirection. Staying home in a comfort zone just will not push us to go deeper. I am truly grateful for this opportunity, no matter how painful it can be. And I am truly grateful for the group of artists I am working with day after day for their humor, their human-ness, and support of each other through some trying and joyous times. Life is good!

We are heading into another week at the tent!  Four more weekends to go!  I still have so many pieces I want to get finished before then, but I have to admit, seven days a week can be brutal!  Went shopping for a couple of hours yesterday and hit a bucket of balls with my honey.  Felt good to be a non-painting human for a few hours.  Here is the piece I finished yesterday morning.  It is a piece from the Seattle series, a 24x48 with my beautiful frame that Tony from Rocky Mountain Frames designed.  I love it!  The painting is called Drizzle.

Missing Winter!

Here is another winter  finished last week.  I must be homesick for snow!  This is called Santa Fe Winter, 20x30 oil on canvas.

Hello to those that might be following me on my ill-used blog!  I'm going to try and do a little better with keeping up.

I'm half way through the Celebration of Fine Art 2010!  The economy is looking up and sales are going well.  I have been painting up a storm these days and will try and post a few of the newest pieces below.  

I would also like to add a few upcoming shows that I am SO happy about!  I will be a guest artist at the Maynard Dixon Country Thunderbird Foundation 2010 plein air event.  I am incredibly excited about this opportunity to paint and exhibit with such a fine group of painters!  I will also be exhibiting in the Western Visions 2010 Miniature Show held by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Museum.  I will again participate in the Kneeland Gallery Plein Air Event the first week of August and then a group show in the Mountain Trails Gallery in Jackson Hole on August 20th.  It's looking to be a VERY busy summer!  Will keep the blog updated!

Here is a new piece created this week and SOLD this week!  It's called Alpenglow, 20x20 and went to its new home in Florida.  Didn't even get a chance to live with it very long :(