I went to see the "Paint Made Flesh" show at the Phillips Collection today. I was very excited to see the show because it has paintings by many of my favorite figurative painters..Lucian Freud, Jenny Saville, Eric Fischl, Michael Borremans and Alice Neel. The show is up until September 13th, 2009. It's always great to see paintings up close that you've only seen in books. (photo is from the Phillips Collection web site of a Jenny Saville painting)

Black and White is the title of the July show at the Art League and the juror was Catriona Fraser, owner and Director of the Fraser Gallery in Bethesda, MD. My charcoal drawing of my daughter got in the show and won an honorable mention. At the opening it was fun to see that several of the other award winners brought their children/models with them too. It makes you wonder if thats why artists have kids.

On Saturday I participated in the 4th Annual Jan and Dan Laytham Riverbend Park Paintout 2009. Riverbend Park is near Great Falls and I started at about 7:30 a.m. I found my spot near the Visitor's Center and had my painting in a frame for judging by 12:30 p.m. This year Armand Cabrera was the judge and my painting received an Honorable Mention for Composition. The show will be up for about 2 weeks in the Visitor Center. See Friends of Riverbend Park for directions.

Joy Turner Luke was the juror of the May All-Media Show at the Art League. My painting called Girl in Sunglasses was accepted. I have been experimenting with different things lately so it was fun to have this painting get in the show.

In March the Art League has a show called "Real/Unreal" and it was juried by Judy Jashinsky. Jashinsky is a well-known artist living in DC area. My painting, "Walking Woman", is in the show which is up through April 6, 2009.

At the end of February I attended Jeremy Lipking's workshop at the Scottsdale Art School. It was an excellent experience for many reasons. The workshop itself was great because Jeremy paints differently than any teacher I've ever had and I learned so much from watching him. The students in the class were also top-notch. A few had work in the local galleries so I was able to walk over after class to see their paintings and several students were also teachers. The school itself is in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale with many restaurants, shops, galleries and hotels. The weather was perfect so I could walk around at lunch and after class. It felt good to get away from winter for a while.

Rob Liberace took his classes (I'm in his painting class) to the National Gallery to see some drawings that he selected from their collection. We went up to the Prints and Drawings room to view them up close. What a treat to see them up close with no glass.

In the afternoon some of us got to go with Rob through the conservation rooms. Kristen gave us a tour. This is a picture of an Edouard Manet painting that they just cleaned laying on a large table. Now they are trying to figure out Manet's process and the models, etc. They think that the man on the right with the top hat was inserted later and is the same figure he used in the painting The Absinthe Drinker. Someone told us that the painting on the table was in Manet's studio when he died and his widow wanted to sell it. A potential buyer came and wanted to know if he could buy just the two young boys in the middle for a reduced price!