A group of painter friends and I went out this week on a rare hot summer day in Mill Valley to paint in the cool, shady Old Mill Park, locally called "Dark Park." 

WOW what a challenge. I brought my painting home and put it on a shelf to dry. Later that evening, I caught a glimpse and was shocked at how awful it looked. So I took out a palette knife and scraped every bit of paint off, leaving just a ghost of the composition. 

The next day, my friend and houseguest Jessica came to town from Montana and was anxious to stretch her car-weary legs on a hike. She started off in the park, and I went back to my same painting location with my easel to try, try again. The shadows of the redwoods and the dappled summer light filtering through on the creek bed were so beautiful. What you don't see in this painting is the steady parade of beautiful toddlers wading in the cool water...that's another challenge for another day!

It's the time of year when my little town of Mill Valley is bustling. Starting with the Memorial Day parade, and then the 101st running of the Dipsea Foot race and moving on to the 30th annual Wine, Food and Gourmet Festival. 

To celebrate, I'm giving away a beautifully matted print of my painting, "Mill Valley Depot." To be eligible, (1) click on the Facebook "like" button below this post, and (2) leave a comment saying what you love most about Mill Valley. Thanks, and good luck!

Several of my flower paintings have just been curated in to Turning Art, a new type of gallery that lets you "borrow" fine prints of artwork and build up credits to buy original art.

The site is designed to help people choose art for their homes. Turning Art sends out a frame and the subscriber builds up a queue of images they like, and prints are sent out. 

Turning Art is definitely worth a look -- there is a lot of diverse and interesting art being made!