I’m off to Yosemite tomorrow to paint for the Gold Country Plein Air show next weekend.  Spent the day getting my gear ready.  Viewing those nice new piles of paint on my palette, I had to get out and paint at least one!  Did this one at one of my favoriate spots, in the foothills of La Canada College.

Hillside Light - Oil on Linen - 8×10″ 

I’m all set for “Gold Country Plein Air” next week. The paintings below will be in the “pre-show” from Tuesday to Saturday next week. Monday, I’m going to start by painting at Yosemite National Park. In events like these, I like to get some good paintings done early, so I can relax during the week Yosemite is incredible, but sometimes too much. I painted this of Half Dome a few years ago, this one on the road in, this river scene and one of the many waterfalls the following year.

I plan to blog daily during the week, and post paintings in progress. The only other blogger that I’m aware of in the group that may do the same is William Wray, so check his site as well. One artist I’m excited to see is Elio Camacho. We both studied with Jim Smyth, great guy. He’s really involving into an incredible painter, although my take is he hasn’t found his own style yet…as it’s too much like Ovanes Berberian, who we both study with.

Event Information

• Paint-out, May 5, 8am-2pm at Mountain Springs - 17566 Limekilm Road, Sonora, CA
• Reception, May 5, 6-8pm at The Vault Gallery

Truckee River, Winter Oil on Linen, 8×10	Peninsula Hillside Oil on Linen, 6×8
Thanksgiving Day Snow OIl on Linen, 16×12	Golden Hour Oil on Linen, 8×6″
Lime Kiln Road, Early Morning (Sonora) Oil on Linen, 8×10	Morning (Back lit) OIl on Linen, 11×14

I have felt so guilty that I haven’t blogged recently! I have been crazy busy. Mike and I spend so much time in the most beautiful American city (San Francisco, of coarse!) that we decided to take a plunge and buy a place there. We’re in escrow, set to close around 13 May!

So, many San Francisco cityscapes coming!

Oh, almost forgot…the storm is Gold Country Plein Air, as I will be blogging daily from the event from Yosemite and the Gold Country region for the show May 5 at The Vault Gallery

Golden Hour
Oil on Linen, 8×6″.

Just recieved a phone call (yes, a real person called me, no form letters!) that I’ve been accepted by jury to participate in this year’s Frank Bette Center Plein Air paint-out! I was accepted last year as well, but had to withdraw due to a travel conflict. This event should be fun as many local plein air painters I know participate.  It’s probably the paint-out closest to home this year.  Forty artists have been selected to paint Alameda’s tree-lined streets, historic architecture, lagoons, estuary and San Francisco bay views from Tuesday July 17 through Friday July 20.

Event schedule

• Artist’s paint in the area July 17 through July 20
• Jewel by the Bay” Sunset Quick Draw,  Thursday, July 19.
• Grand finale Saturday, July 21: The Frank Bette Plein Air Artists will showcase their artwork at an exciting all day outdoor exhibit at Jackson Park, a lovely historic residential park in downtown Alameda.  Judging and Awards Ceremony will take place in the morning.

More information

• Photos from last year’s event
• Event information
• Frank Bette Center Information

Fun Fact

Alameda’s “sister city” is Lidingo, a green island adjacent to Stockholm. Lindigo is an excellent spot for outdoor recreation and has scenic jogging and biking paths, numerous hiking trails and bridle paths, and an 18-hole golf course. Lindigo is also birthplace to Raoul Wallenberg, First Secretary of the Swedish legation in Budapest in 1944, who rescued thousands of Hungarian Jews.

Had the opening reception last night for my solo show (”Something Timeless: the plein air paintings of Ed Terpening“) at Robert Lewis Gallery. Nice coverage in the local paper, as they reproduced the Secluded Cove painting. Good growd…between 120-130. It was the ‘art walk’ last night, so the town hit critical mass. Sold one (Aspens), and a lot of interest in Lake Tahoe, Dusk. My bet is it will sell too before the show is over…With this show on, hopefully I can get back to painting a bit more.

Solo Show - Robert Lewis Gallery

Carmel was incredibly beautifil. Gracie, Mike and I had a relaxing walk on the beach.

Off topic, yes, but fun!  Had a great time Easter Sunday, just getting around to posting some pics.  No paintings today.  Enjoy!

Boy Intrigued…by Leopard Easter Bunny.

Gracie Chases Bubbles in Bubbles.

I received several emails after sending out my latest newsletter, many from other artists wondering how to approach this communications tool. I have a combination of marketing and web experience that informs how I design and write newsletters that may be of use to you. Here are some tips:

1. Make it easy for your website readers to subscribe. I write my own web form that sends an email to me with the fields I ask for, such as their name, how they heard about me (important!), etc. I then copy/paste that into both an MS Outlook group contact list and MS Excel. I know there are other programs and web-based tools to help manage this…If you know of one that you like, chime in with comments to let us know. I do steer away from free advertising based tools as I don’t want to clutter my newsletter with other peoples messages.
2. Respect your readers time. I don’t know about you, but my email inbox isn’t equivalent to a letter box, where I’m eager to get the next personal correspondence from a pen-pal in Paris. It’s a to-do list, a task list and reminder. Visualize your reader getting dozens of such emails and ask yourself why they’d read yours. Be succint. Also, be clear in your signup form what your privacy policy is (here are some free templates). I inform subscribers that I will never sell or loan out my list to anyone.
3. No dead ends. This is important. A key purpose of a newsletter is to draw people in. Get their interest. Once you have, give them someplace to go and learn more. In an HTML newsletter context, that means lots of great contextual links back to your website or other interesting resources. Read your newsletter as an outsider, or ask someone else to, asking yourself, when would someone want to know more?
4. Pictures. We’re artists, after all! Yes, a “picture is worth a thousand words“, and since you’re respecting your reader…use imagery to say more with less. Pictures of YOU are important too. Some people will see your name in the “From” field and make a connection, while others will recogize you by face. I used a picture of Gracie and I in this newsletter because people almost always remember her!
5. Be authentic, personal. This is your email to another person, directly. Don’t think of it as a “mass-communication” PR pitch. You’ll fail. Write it as if you were sitting across the table with a friend at Starbucks. Be relaxed, and you. Something I’m working on is using MS Word Mail Merge to create personalized newsletters. Eg, start with a personal greeting. “Hey Sean, “…and “I hope you’re enjoying the painting you purchased last year, “Beach Town”., etc.
6. Tease. Not in a stripper-kinda-way, but you know, leave something for next time. Make them want to get your next newsletter. Tell them what’s coming up.

Got newsletter tips? Chime in!

Resources

• Newsletter Design (About.com)
• Public Newsletter Archive
• Yahoo Answers

Here’s my latest painting demo for my upcoming solo show at Robert Lewis Gallery (click here for the other of Secluded Cove). Click here to view paintings in the show. Enjoy!

Click the image below to visit my .Mac page, then click the play button.

Got up Saturday to a picture perfect morning, so I rode out to La Canada Road and Crystal Springs to find a spot to paint. This scene shows me facing the sun (not easy to paint in that light). I’ve always likes the effect of backlighting. I think I’ll bring this to the Vault Gallery pre-show for the May 5 reception of Gold Country Plein Air (unless someone reading this blog wants to snap it up!).

Morning Backlight - Oil on Linen - 11×14