... and the WINNER is

...Arden from Oregon!!
Yippeee! Thanks to everyone who wrote me and reads my blog. I hope there is 100 more posts!!!!

The past two days I've been part of a holiday open house at a friend's home here in St. Louis. She makes and sells great beaded jewelry. It was so fun to do because you just enjoy talking to the women and there's no rushing, hurrying pressure to shop and scram like you feel at a mall. You have a glass of wine some crackers, take your time, chat it up with a new friend. It's just a fun experience. I've seen more and more of these holiday shopping open houses spring up and think they are such a great idea. In fact I'm participating in another one in two more weeks!!!! So for the next week I'll be busy painting and matting lots of my pictures.

Last Sunday I decided to take the afternoon and paint once again at the botanical gardens. I can not recall a fall so vibrant and colorful as this one. Maybe because it's the first one I've experienced in ten years. So I gathered my traveling paint kit and off I went. I found a perfect place in the grass - after much looking and pacing - then and set up my little studio in the leafy grass and of course put my ear phones in. It was busy in the gardens and I was somewhat secluded. Usually something fairly odd happens to me when I paint in plein air in a public place. Thankfully only falling leaves interrupted me when they dropped on my paper or on the palette.