A half-acre property on Miller Avenue welcomes people to downtown Mill Valley with redwood groves and a creek running by rustic wooden buildings. Its original purpose was as a lumber yard that supplied the surrounding community for 120 years. When new owners Matt and Jan Mathews purchased the landmark property in 2012, they hoped to attract a building and hardware  tenant, but those efforts were hampered, likely by competition from "big box" stores in the county. They began the task of renovating and retrofitting buildings for a mix of tenant uses, with a goal to preserve the buildings  and keep the spirit of the property alive, even keeping the name - Mill Valley Lumber Yard.

I've enjoyed walking, riding and driving by these great old buildings since I first moved to Mill Valley in 1987.  In more recent years, I have also enjoyed painting them - so it is really a treat to participate with a group of six artists as we transform some of the vacant space and outdoor area at 129 Miller Avenue into studios for Marin Open Studios, the weekend of May 10 & 11.

I'll be there from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day - with my easel  and paints - and a display of framed and unframed paintings, drawings and prints for sale. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, come by and have a look. Directions are on my website.

Since I returned from Chalk Hill Residency and its fields ablaze with clover, I've had two weekends of Marin Open Studios and now I'm getting ready for a solo show in Mill Valley. Exhilarating. Exhausting. Energizing.

Nice article in "In the Make" about my time at Chalk Hill Residency. 

Open Studios was an interesting learning experience. I've only done it once before and it was very successful. This time, I was coached to not use my in-home studio because of its remote location. Instead, I teamed up with two other artists in a location that was more central, but off the main drag. Traffic was in ebbs and flows, and most of the people who visited and acquired paintings, prints and notecards were people we knew. Does location really matter? I'm beginning to doubt it, since I got several emails and calls from new collectors who made their purchases over the phone and via my website as a result of my listing and advertisement in the Open Studios guide.

JoAnne Berlin of Alain Pinel graciously invited me to be the artist of the month at their Mill Valley location, and is hosting the opening reception on June 4th between 6-8 pm for the monthly Mill Valley First Tuesday Art Walk. It's a fun night where you can walk from venue to venue to see the art, enjoy a glass of wine and appetizers. If you are in town, I hope you can stop by. If you can't make the reception, feel free to drop by 32 Miller Avenue during June to see new California landscape paintings and prints of local favorites, such as Down Blithedale, Mill Valley Depot and Old Mill Creek, pictured at right. 

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