Ok - I know it’s been awhile….and there is so much to tell!  First, my latest painting “Storms” was juried into the Idaho Watercolor Society’s 2011 exhibition (currently hanging at the BSU Student Building until June 22) which is always a good thing.  I have just added it to the Profile Page and the Store for those of you interested and it is available as a card and/or a print.

Secondly - we just returned from a totally FABU trip to the south of France…met lots of wonderful people and attempted to speak French (fractured French in our cases).  Since I am a Foodie, the trip had many delicious highlights..not to mention that it seemed like every village/town that we went to was having it’s Market Day!  Oh the cheeses (Fromage en Francais) and charcuterie (Sausages en Anglais) and Lavender and Olive Oil and bread.  Special thanks to Sonia, Pauline and her father Buddha, the Chef and staff of Don Quixote and Alex from Chez Grandmere.  And all of the other wonderful people who smiled at us, answered questions, let us take pictures or take a seat at an empty table.  Oh - and the guys at the Tourist Information places in Canet and Aix - they were totally awesome!!!!

So if anyone is following this blog, I am letting you know that we will be moving to the French Riviera - yes REALLY - mid-to late October to caretake a simply beautiful estate owned by simply lovely people.  I know - an unbelievable, amazing opportunity.  I am looking forward to painting everything tres french.  Who knows, I may even get good at painting plein aire or street scenes!  However, this does NOT mean that this website will be going down.  Snefnug Studio will contine to operate from the U.S. and any cards or prints will be mailed to you just like they are now.  So - no worries!!!!  I’ll keep you updated on what’s happening as things go along.

Snefnug Studio is going to be offering something BRAND NEW this year….it’s called “Pick Your Pack” and works like this.  Pick any five cards you would like to give as a gift.  I’ll put them in a nice clear box and tie them with ribbon.  You’ll get a lovely “pre-packaged” package that you won’t even have to wrap and someone will receive a lovely box of 5 beautiful cards.  All for $15.00.  If you want multiple boxes, please post what cards you want in what boxes in the comment section i.e. 1 box with 1 giraffe, 1 Red Pepper, 1 Lemon, 1 Miz Bourbon and 1 Foothills #1. 1 box with 1 Cosmos, 1 Pink Rose…..etc.  I’ll send you your order either in an envelope mailer or small box.  I was just in a holiday bazaar this past Saturday and people loved the idea of putting their own card picks in boxes.  The Pick Your Pack boxes make great hostess gifts too!  Have fun!!!!

It is approaching mid-August already - hard to believe - really!  My mother and sister went into New York City to see the Pleiades Gallery exhibit where my painting, “Mr. Hooper’s Garden”, was hanging.  They talked to the Curator there who said that only 36 pieces were juried into the show from over 1300 entries!  Even I was pretty impressed!  They said that my painting was hanging sort of in the center of a wall surrounded by large heavy oil paintings so “Mr. Hooper’s Garden” just sparkled.  How lovely.  It is now in the process of being picked up by the shipping/retrieval service and will be on it’s way home tomorrow.  It is only the second floral piece that I’ve ever had juried into an exhibition so it’s nice that it made it to the Big Apple!

PLEASE FEEL FREE to write and let me know how you like the web site or that you just dropped in!  Even though I have to look at everything first, I’d love to put comments on the sight!!!

Lots has happened this month - some not so great and some fabulous so I guess you could say that the Universe is balancing things out for me.  First, I did not get into the juried show for the Idaho Watercolor Society - I will also add much to the astonishment of friends and family.  However one must keep in mind that the jurying process is completely subjective - so what stands out for one person, won’t for someone else.  Such is the life of any artist whether the genre is music, dance, painting, writing…you name it.  I did take the workshop presented by the Juror, Susan Webb Tregay, which I found really useful and gleaned a lot of great information.  Oh and I learned a lot too!  I had also entered the same painting in another juried show, this one a national exhibition at the Pleiades Gallery in New York City running from July 15 - August 7.  Well I found out last week that I DID get into that show….again with the SAME PAINTING….but a different juror and a different set of eyes.  So you see - everything is totally subjective.  This is nice getting into this exhibition as the juror is M. Stephen Doherty, the Editor -in-Chief of American Artist, Watercolor, Drawing and Workshop magazines as well as a published author on many art books and is an artist himself.  So “Mr. Hooper’s Garden” will be going to the Big Apple for a few weeks to hang.  Great news for me as that painting was my “sick” painting - in other words, while I was ill this winter and couldn’t paint, I had all this time to think about how to work on it.  So something paid off for all of those hours I lay on the sofa!  Hopefully all the good vibes keep going!!!!

My husband and I went to First Thursday last night.  Out here in Boise, the First Thursday of every month is celebrated by local galleries staying open, musicians playing on street corners and in pubs, restaurants and shops and, in the summer, with street vendors around.  It is always interesting to see what other artists have been up to…especially in the spring when people start “sprouting up” with all kinds of new art venues.  Starting off at Gallery 601, we talked with their featured artist Bill Gehring.  He works with watercolor and pencil and does lovely renderings of different kinds of birds.  It was great talking to him since he is a fellow “birder” and we discussed some of the various types of birds we’ve seen here.  We visited local artist Ward Hooper at his opening of his new gallery and namesake of my painting “Mr. Hooper’s Garden”.  The gallery was full of happy people and we had some time to talk to Ward.  He was very interested in knowing how I do as far as getting into the Idaho Watercolor Society’s juried show so I told him I was keeping my fingers crossed.  We also stopped in to the new Indie store on 6th Street to see Tallulah and her lovely soap display.  Truthfully - her soaps far outclassed all of the other soaps AND other items for sale.  I hope she did well considering she was stuck in a back room.  You can find her fabulous soaps at Tallulah’s Soaps on Etsy.  We also stopped into Brown’s Gallery and talked with featured artist David Mensing - an oil painter who does magnificent landscapes among other subjects.  Had we had tons of money we would have bought the big painting in the window - however $4200 just isn’t a spending option right now.  He was very nice and we had a good discussion about how to paint clouds.  The weather held up and actually the evening turned out to be very pleasant!

And one last thing that has absolutely nothing to do with paintings - I went to Dillards to meet Donald J. Pliner, the shoe designer.  I was on a mission I must admit.  There is a shoe that I have had in my brain for 30 years and never found.  So I introduced myself to him (he is very nice) and told him this in my 30 second “elevator moment”.  He at least acted like he was interested and I gave him a small drawing of what I have been looking for inside one of my greeting cards (Mr. Hooper’s Garden) and my business card with Miz Bourbon on it.  He said if he thought it had merit he would give me a call.  OOOHHH - how cool would that be!!!  Sometimes you just have to TELL the right people what you are dying for.