Reno - Miami and a couple of other places

Crew preparing "Precious Metal"

For those of you who follow my blog, it may have seemed like I'd dropped off the face of the earth. Well, Karen and I, a couple of non-travelers, have been on the road. We rarely leave our own neck of the woods, but 2012 has found us stretching our wings a little. 

the T-6's ready for a qualifying run

The travel bug infected us on our trip to New York. It went so smoothly, that we got to talking about the possibility of trying this traveling thing a little more often. I'll run the last couple of months in reverse chronological order. 

One of the T-6's coming around pylon number 7

Working backwards, I just got back from Reno Nevada, where I attended the National Air Race Championships. I haven't flown or worked on a plane since 1987, but it's still in my blood. In fact it was 1987 when I last attended the Air Races. One of the reasons I gave myself permission to go there again this year, was Lauren Ellis at C. K. Contemporary, my gallery in San Francisco said that they would be happy to accept aircraft and automobile subject matter in my paintings. So, I thought this would be a good opportunity to get some photography to draw on for paintings. I took about 900 photos, and hopefully some of them will be paintworthy. Mason Murer has also accepted and sold aircraft art from me in the past, so I felt the trip was justified. Plus . . . I really wanted to go!

Karen with her friend Christine at the Mountain Retreat

Moving back a little more in time, just prior to my leaving for Reno, Karen took a few days off and went up to Highlands North Carolina to attend a yoga retreat. It's a beautiful location held at a facility called Mountain Retreat and Learning Center and Karen had a great time there. This is her second visit to the retreat, and I wouldn't doubt that she'll be there again next year. 

A few steps from our hotel

Heading back a few more weeks we find ourselves in South Beach Miami Florida. When we were in Cape Cod we only had (literally) 30 minutes to spend at the beach, which was a huge tease. So, when we got home, Karen who was starved for some beach time, it had been a couple of years since we'd spent any significant time at the ocean, got busy planning a trip to the sea. Potential locations changed multiple times, then she asked my brother Doug, whose been everywhere where he'd go. He told her, "based on your wish list, I'd go to Miami". One of her main criteria was clear emerald water, and South Beach delivered. Karen also found an awesome hotel called the Savoy a block from 5th street on Ocean Drive. It was this great hotel built in the 30's. We had a suite with three terraces. Two overlooking the pool, and a third with an ocean view. The water, weather and accommodations were all perfect. We made a pact to stay at that same location when/if we return to Miami.

One last walk on the beach before we returned home

Now, returning to the present, we had one more short adventure this past weekend. Karen and I drove up to Asheville North Carolina to attend Karin Juricks show at 16 Patton Gallery. It was an easy drive up from Atlanta on Saturday, and we got there early enough to visit some of our favorite galleries and have a wonderful barbecued portabella mushroom sandwich at 12 Bones Smokehouse, before we had to get ready for Karin's show. The weather was beautiful and a steady stream of patrons passed through the gallery all evening. Karin sold two paintings, and when the gallery finally closed we returned to our amazing hotel. The "W" chain of hotels built a new hotel on Biltmore Avenue, right in the heart of the city called Aloft. It's only been open three weeks and it's reeeely nice. After Karin's show we went up on the roof deck next to the pool, sat around the fire pit and talked life and art for a long time before we finally gave out. 

Now we're home, and it's time to get back to work. I picked up three commissions from the Tree's Place show, and I'll be getting started on the first of those today. I'll hopefully have something new to show in a few days.