I'm very proud to announce that I was recently accepted as an artist on Zatisa.com - Zatista accepts about 5% of the artists who apply so it's a big honor to have been chosen.  I'll have original works available for sale on their site and you can also commission a work of art from me directly through the site.
  My career as a studio artist is something that I balance with my teaching and I'm very happy that I can continue my career as both an artist and as a teacher.  I don't really see these two occupations as being different because my own studio practice inspired my teaching and vice versa.  I'm just really glad that I can continue to do what I love and what I'm passionate about.  
  This entire past year has been really amazing and I can't wait to see what happens next!

  I had a fun project that I finished today.  A few months ago, I had a custom folding palette made for me by Mr. Michael Balsley of Turtlewood Palettes.  The palette is absolutely beautiful and functions great.  The only thing that was missing was a latch that could keep the folding palette from closing in on itself.  I was struggling to try and figure out the best way to attach a little latch to the back of the palette.
  Today, I was watching an episode of Classic Woodworking and came across a technique that might work on my palette project.  The episode was about making shaker-style boxes and involved using small copper tacks to secure certain parts of the box.  A lightbulb went off and I  realized that I could do this with my palette.
 Previously, I had considered using really small screws to secure the latch, but then the problem is that the screw would go through the other side and I'd have to grind the point off.  The technique that was used on the shaker boxes was to hammer a small tack through and have a piece of steel on the other side to flatten any point that would emerge as you hammered it.
  I used some very small tacks that I had from a furniture restoration project and it worked great.  It showed me that the best methods for my projects might come from unexpected sources.  So I always have my eyes and ears open to see if I can cross-pollinate techniques.

  After many hours of concentrated work, I'm going to call this one finished.  I think the last time I did a cast drawing was back at Pafa so this was a good exercise to return to.  The most difficult part was rendering the background and getting the value dark enough.  The instructors taught us rendering techniques and how to control the values, which was what I always wanted to learn.  
  Today marks the halfway point of my first semester of grad school.  I'm really beyond happy with the way this program is going.  If anyone out there is a teacher (or interested in teaching) and looking for a solid atelier graduate program then you should apply to the Florence Academy program.

  Working my way through this intensive drawing.  I'm pretty happy with the way it's going, but it needs more work.  The background takes a lot of effort to achieve that black tone.