I've been very busy lately with the house project. For those of you that haven't red the last blog, I'll update you on what I'm doing. Doing miles and miles (it seems) of faux burl walnut on the ballistrate as well as door arches and raised panel doors, doing Italian Plaster Veniziano, copper metalo, painting a 11x14' wall mural of Renoir's "The Luncheon of the Boating Party" , a 8' ceiling dome mural, and glazing and antiquing. I will also be doing gold highlights on much of the trim and chandeliers in the house as well. This is a very ambitious project for the homeowner, the house is 12000 sq ft and is probably the most decorative house I've had the opportunity to do. Very beautiful and well planned.

I'm also doing my paintings for the galleries and doing as much plein air painting as I can fit in, teaching a couple of art classes and preparing for my upcoming plein air workshop in Charleston. The participation for the workshop is picking up and I expect to have a good turnout. The Dobbin Gallery at Church St in Charleston is sponsoring the workshop which run Nov 5th, 6th,and 7th with a beginning reception on the 4th and a wet paint and sell along with a reception on the night of the 7th. The fee for the workshop is only $325.00 with the option for the artist to leave one work of art at the gallery to be sold. This is a good opportunity for an artist to have their work shown in a Charleston gallery. You can google up Shem Creek, the Battery, and historic downtown Charleston to review the beautiful painting locations we have in store for the painters. If you or anyone you know are interested in attending the workshop you can contact me on my e-mail at craig_reynolds@comcast.net or the gallery at Dobbingallery@yahoo.net. You can contact me by phone at 256-458-1881 or Shelby Parbel at 843-579-9725.

The gallery sales are beginning to pick up after a long slow period due to the economy. A lot of the galleries have closed and most of them are really struggling. Hopefully the economy is picking up. It is just as much the artist responsibility to help the galleries out as it is for the gallery owners themselves. My thoughts on that are for the artist to do whatever it takes to help generate sales for them as well as for ourselves by either dropping the price point slightly or maybe even painting smaller and less expensive paintings. The Dobbin Gallery of Charleston sold three paintings of mine last week and I have one under consideration at the Renaissance Gallery as well, all were negotiated sales.