What I've Been Doing Lately.

   Hi all. It's very much time to catch up on my art life since the last posts. The fall of 2016 through the winter, spring and summer of 2017 were busy and satisfying. I continued to run my gallery, Art at the Washago Hotel, showing my own work and several other artists. Winter there was very quiet, but through the summer there were lots of visitors and some healthy sales. I also continue to show at Hooper's Cafe in Washago,  Apple Annie's in Orillia, and Keith Johnson's Hub Gallery in Port Carling.
   I created an on-site installation, called "The Painted Grove" at Grant's Woods, Division Rd. Severn Township, Ontario, one of Couchiching Conservancy's nature reserve properties. They commissioned several artists  to create site-specific work as part of their Canada 150 project. My installation is still there, for anyone who would like to visit. I haven't seen it in the snow yet. Must get out there and take some photos.
    Another Couchiching Conservancy project involves artists doing paintings of its various properties in preparation for an exhibit next fall at Orillia Museum of Art and History. I have been using this to get myself out painting on site. I've done four so far, and hope to do many more. The Conservancy owns 44 properties!
    A commission at the end of 2017 gave me the happy excuse to do another view from my front window, 40 by 30 inches oil on canvas, about the 57th "Black River White Pine" I've painted.
    Presently I am working sometimes at home, and sometimes at my small studio in room 11 on the second floor of the Washago Hotel. (The former gallery space is now occupied by the offices of the Highway 11 construction administration.)