Each season, the California Art Club hosts a new online exhibition: Excellence in Traditional Fine Art. I'm honored to have my pastel included amongst the 45 paintings chosen for The Beauty of the Story. This scene, 11 x 22, shows the joyfully colored umbrellas marking each family's season-long patch of beach on northern California's Russian River. You never know what you'll see as you round a bend in canoe or kayak when paddling this scenic waterway.

Look for this show under Current Exhibitions at www.californiaartclub.org.

I'll be taking two exciting journeys to New Mexico later this year. Growing up in neighboring Colorado, I developed a huge fondness for all the Land of Enchantment has to offer and am always eager to visit.

In May, I'm heading to Santa Fe for the 9th annual Plein Air Convention and Expo where hundreds of outdoor painting enthusiasts will gather to learn, exchange ideas and paint the incomparable scenery. I'll be a field painter, meaning I demonstrate my pastel technique during each outdoor session and assist other artists who have questions. www.pleinairconvention.com

And in June, I'll be going back to Albuquerque where the International Association of Pastel Societies holds it's glorious semi-annual convention packed with classes, demonstrations and a stellar exhibition of all that's possible using this rich medium. I'm not a presenter, just love to gather with my buddies every few years. www.IAPSpastel.org

I'm still having a delightful time creating large oil paintings that incorporate gold, copper and aluminum leaf. The combination of the two surfaces, oil and metal leaf, continues to fascinate and surprise me.

This painting, Wetland Sunrise, is 24 by 36 inches on stretched canvas. It's inspired by the view from Marin County looking across at Mt. Diablo early in the morning.

I was honored to be amongst fifty artists chosen to create an original piece of artwork using our favored medium in response to a poem by a local poet not previously known to us. I received Persimmon Tree by Elizabeth Herron (www.elizabeth-herron.com.) It is wonderfully evocative writing describing a lone tree deep in an autumn valley. The show, Reverberations 2 is on display at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts through May 15. www.sebarts.org

Please know that you're always invited to visit my wonderful straw bale studio in Cotati, southern Sonoma County, California, when you're in the area. There's so much to see and learn about. Looking forward to your visit. You can reach me through this website or by calling 707.477.0276.