I did my last gallery tour at Dixon today, and a number of friends showed up for it. As well as some people I didn't know at all but who wanted to hear about my work. Both were lovely.

I got there early to film a snippit for their YouTube channel (which I am waiting nervously to see how awful it might look), and I spent the time in between sketching the gallery with my show in it. This has been a pivotal moment in my career and my most exciting show, and I wanted to memorialize it in my sketch journal. And really just drink in and celebrate the moment. I feel so lucky to have had this chance to show with such a wonderful museum that influenced my development as an artist.

I have likely said this before, but it's the glass cases with my sketchbooks inside that really get me about this show. So very museum-y. Gives me goosebumps.

I'm going to be sad to see it come down. It's been a thrilling ride this fall. But I am also looking forward to the quiet long blocks of time in January to get back to fully making art again after all the show and holiday busyness dies down. I've got a new print underway that I'll post here soon. It feels good.

Memphis has a great public radio station that does something unique in my experience (and I listen to a lot of NPR as I travel). Every single day and usually twice a day, they have a short program called Checking on the Arts. They interview artists, actors, musicians, people putting on fairs and booking concert halls, anyone doing something artistic in Memphis. Lots of stations get occasional bands into the studio, but no one I've heard has daily features that include visual artists as well. As a listener, I've gone to a number of plays I might not have, once I've heard the director or actors talking about the production, and I hear about lots of things I want to get out and do.

As an artist, it is gold. Especially since I've gone solo and don't have a gallery doing publicity for me, it is a beautiful thing to have a station willing to put me on the air and let me talk to the city.

And they do an amazing job. I got in this time, and Darel Snodgrass had a printout about my new show sitting on his desk already. He always does research ahead of time, asks great questions, keeps things moving along, covers everything that needs to be announced (challenging this time, because I have a lot on this year), and he does it all with warmth and enthusiasm. Here is this week's interview about Dixon, MTS, my holiday sale, and more....

So very many lovely people turned out for my opening at Dixon Gallery and Gardens last night. I am still buoyed by the wave of love and support that washed over me. The museum people have gone out of their way to be kind and, really, utterly marvelous. (Plus it's the sign of a good party when you get sent home with cake at the end of it.) Family, friends, dancers, art buddies, jam buddies, profs at MTS, park people, and a whole host of lovely people from unexpected places turned out for my big career night and made it special.

Very kindly, Frank Chin turned out with his camera and got some lovely shots for me to remember the evening. I was so grateful.

AND the Tom Lonardo Trio played, which was so special for me. Tom and Tim Goodwin were two of Di Anne Price's "Boyfriends," and I spent many years' worth of happy Sunday afternoons hanging out at Huey's and listening to them. Di Anne had a song for every contingency in my life. It's still so odd to be navigating the world without her soundtrack for company, and without her calling me "baby." As she did everyone she cared about. But having Tom and Tim there for my biggest career moment meant an awful lot, and I even got one beautiful celebratory dance toward the end of the evening. Such a treat.

Well, I thought I'd turn in the show and be a little more free, but that hasn't happened. I'm working till 10 tonight on the slide show to go with my lecture at Dixon tomorrow. It will be fun to give a talk in the auditorium just off the gallery with my show hanging.

So I'm definitely behind on posting here, and I'll try to catch up, but in the meantime, here are a few shots of how the exhibition looks. It's beautifully lit and hung, and the setting (and those amazing glass cases for my sketchbooks) just look so MUSEUM-Y. I'm thrilled.

I like how they have the paintings and prints done from the same sketch hanging together, so people can see the difference between the lush and liquid oil paint and the linear sharpness and pattern of the prints.

I've been focusing and printmaking and sketching the last few years, but Dixon wanted some oils as well for my fall exhibition with them. It took me a while to get my head back in this space, but I've been flipping through some sketchbooks and found several images I'd enjoy painting, and I really have been having a ball. There's something very immediate and responsive about oils. They're lush.

I'm also enjoying revisiting a special place. This painting and the moonrise one (last blog entry) are both from watercolors I did at the woodworking school Country Workshops. My friends Drew and Louise Langsner live there and run the school, and their farm is one of the loveliest places I know. They periodically invite me to visit them and paint for a bit, and I always look forward to my time there. It's a fruitful place for my art.

I've got a new painting underway for my fall exhibition at Dixon Gallery and Gardens. This is an evening sky I painted in watercolor when I was in North Carolina last fall. I've already done a print from that sketch, but the image continues to call my name. My favorite thing to paint in oils is big, lush skies. That medium does skies better than anything else I work in. I've enjoyed getting back into oils for this exhibition.

The segment about me that was filmed by the PBS show Tennessee Crossroads is out and up on You Tube. You can watch the six minute segment at:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VTSrzY5QPrs&feature=youtu.be

I'm always a little stunned at how Southern I sound outside my own head, and occasionally I feel like there's a reason I'm a visual artist instead of a verbal one, but they did a really nice job of putting together an overview of my life, work, and creative philosophy.

And they showed off Mr. Darcy....

I'm setting up today for tomorrow's Open Studio Sale from 12-5. It's only one day this year because of the marathon tying things up on Saturday, though it turns out that the race was cancelled after all due to ice and cold.

I'll be here no matter what the weather. I've got hot cider, and later this afternoon I'll be baking the cookies I mixed up yesterday. So come on over if you're out and about, or if you've got a little cabin fever built up. Hopefully we're through the ice, but I'll be open regardless.

I got tentatively back to painting this week for the first time in a month or so. Regular readers will have noticed that I haven't been posting here nearly as often as I usually do. Normally I wake up every morning thinking about what art I want to make that day. I feel lucky to be a happy painter -- I don't have to cultivate or channel angst in order to make my art. That generally makes for a happy life.

However, in times of trouble and grief, it means that I hit a point where making art is very hard for me, and sometimes I just have to take some time off. I'm in the process of getting a divorce, and it's been difficult to work lately. Fortunately I don't have any shows looming, and my clients for the above commission have been very understanding.

The only thing I've been able to tackle lately is the series of lament psalm prints. They're heartfelt, relatively small, and simple in just black and white. Hopefully I can get back to more complex printmaking soon. I miss it, but it's sometimes hard to dive into a more intricate project. In the meantime, I'm trying to finish this painting (it felt great to get back into it) and also keep going with the psalms, since one is due each Sunday in Lent for use as church bulletin covers. The whole set will be available in digital form for any church that would like to use it for future occasions.

Here's the first proof for next week's psalm.