Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society

I recently received an email informing me that I have received the “highly coveted” NWS signature status. Wow! Exciting news. I will be heading to Los Angeles for the National Watercolor Society Show opening at the end of September.

This is a watercolor sketch that I painted Plein Air in Skagway. It had been raining for three weeks before we got there so the sunny skies were nice. You usually get to know someone when you sit out and paint. I met two young ladies who stopped to chat with me before they opened up the restaurant where they worked. It adds to the flavor of the painting to get to know the people who live there.

I put a bell on my back pack just in case we went hiking back in bear country. It worked great, a week in Alaska and I did not see a single bear. We waited 45 minutes to see a bear from a bear platform. Ten minutes after we left to catch the shuttle, my mother-in-law showed up on a bus, walked right down to the bear platform and saw a mother bear and her cub catch a salmon. Hmmmmmm.