HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014! DREAM BIG!

What a wonderful new year it is going to be!  Positive thinking begets positive results...
                                                       that's my motto for this year!

                                     Dreaming big and imagining the real possibilities!

The year is off with a BIG bang! I have been chosen as the artist to create and paint an outside mural for our downtown comprising of 30 life sized portraits! A HUGE undertaking and one I would never have dreamt to come my way; a little nervous, but I am going to give it my best shot.

Speaking of shots...........I just completed a painting of my friend, Robert 'Cowboy' Culbertson, who I was so fortunate to spend a week with at the American Frontier Productions in Kansas last summer. That was quite a treat and I sure hope to get the opportunity to return there!

The next great thing is that a portrait of mine has been selected to be included for the show at Scottsdale Artists School, in Scottsdale, AZ. If you have never been there, you should add it to your list. I am so humbled to be a part of this show. I have seen the incredible  art chosen in previous years and am super excited to be part of it this year!

 

The show opens January 10 and since I will be traveling to AZ in Feb., I will be sure to go see it grace the halls of SAS and have my photo taken along side it.

 

Dream BIG! Who knows where it will take you...

 

 

Dare to Dream BIG!

How do you describe an experience that is beyond your wildest imagination? If you can be brave enough to ask for what you want, you may be surprised how easily it can become a reality.

For those that enjoy the wide open spaces, gentle rolling hills, horses and salt-of-the-earth people, you would find a little piece of heaven on earth, in easton, KS. The place recently given birth to is known as American Frontier, the proud parents being Robert 'Cowboy' Culbertson and his wonderful wife, Donna!


They, along with the blood, sweat and tears of many, such as the 'boys from Illinois, Jim Hatzell, Carol  and Vane Huggins, have built what Richard and Mignon DeShon determined was a dream that needed to be a reality.


The week I was privileged to be there, included hard work from sun up to sundown, but to watch the buildings transform into a well-loved town was incredible.

Once in a lifetime experience!

Hollywood has a new film set! Showing up early to check things out turned out to be the start of a true adventure. Seems they were in need of a sign painter...... and there I was. So Monday morning we started planning the layout and lettering for sign #1. All was well until the sky turned dark and winds picked up. We got the sign moved to the livery just in time, before the hours-long deluge drenched everything!

Tromping through the mud and mini rivers that formed , we still managed to keep the hammers and paint brushes in full motion.

Sun up to sun down, we all worked to bring the dream of  Robert  'Cowboy' Culbertson to reality. What a privledge to work alonside the likes of Jim Hatzell,  from films such as 'Dancing with Wolves'...and most of the 'Boys from Illinois'...

They rarely stopped to take a break and I followed suit, knowing time would fly and we needed to finish by Thursday night, before the unveiling on Friday.

Cowboy and his wife, Donna, had decided to honor Richard DeShon by naming the hotel after him; but we had a tough time keeping a sign that big hidden from him when he showed up on location!





Stay tuned.....

What a treat when he saw the sign;
he was delighted and planned to surprise his wife, Mignon,
 by not telling her before she came to see the town herself.