Brenda Stichter, artist

Sold at Open Studio   It has been a week and a half since my open studio, and I think I am still in recovery mode! I still have my art on display throughout the house - which is not unusual, but it is neater than usual and still has the tags hanging with it - but I have managed to put away a lot of the extras, like the "fancy" disposable dishes and the hand painted ornaments that I offered for sale.  This year my gift to everyone who came to my event was the opportunity to purchase a representational painting at whatever price they could/wanted to spend. It was a delight to sell several of these paintings, and even some at my regular price!  Since that weekend, I have managed to paint two representational paintings, one en plein air , and one from inside my front door (my dear daughter suggested it must be called en fancy air ) because of cold and wet weather. I have not yet released these paintings on my website, because time has just passed me by too quickly!  This red pain

 Well, the paintings are hung, and about half of them have their tags on them. My Beloved Husband has helped me with getting lights hooked up, and the snacks are purchased. The broken frame is repaired, and the unframed paintings will just have to remain unframed.  The sign is on the trailer and ready to be set out by our driveway, and I am really looking forward to seeing friends this weekend!  Three small paintings have already sold! Some friends came for a preview, of sorts, and I was so glad they chose some pieces to grace their home.  OK, back to work. See you Friday and Saturday!  Pre- Open House Sales!

 I have been trying to prioritize and plan and organize and just be all around ready for my upcoming Open Studio and open house, but I keep getting sidetracked. Mostly it is better or more important things that are drawing me away from hanging paintings and making tags. Things like going with my Beloved Husband on some of his service calls, for example. I very much enjoyed going with him this week, and was glad to have my sketchbook along for the time I waited in the work van.  It seems like every day there has been some important or urgent thing on my agenda, and I am starting to plan to be almost ready next weekend. Ha! But one thing that I don't want to miss is the time to celebrate Easter, which is truly the most important day of the year. So I have gotten out my Easter basket, which contains items that are reminders of the significance of Jesus' last week on earth before He was crucified and later rose from the dead.  A blog post I wrote in 2021 contains links to many blog