Napa Valley Open Studios 2011

Napa Valley Open Studios 2011  •  cover art by glass artist Ed Breed

The next two weekends, Napa Valley Open Studios artists (including me) open up their studios to visitors, sharing their work, talking about their processes, answering questions, and sometimes giving demonstrations. It's a wonderful time to learn about different artists and how they work.

You can download a catalog online at www.napavalleyopenstudios.org, and you can find out what demonstrations you might see here.

Jocelyn Audette painting on location (in the middle of a lake)

Here's a photo gallery of artists at work (our workplaces often look a little different than most people's!), at NVOS Photo Gallery, including my favorite of Jocelyn Audette painting in the middle of a lake.

If you come – between 11 and 5 on September 17-18 and 24-25 – I hope you'll drop by and visit me at Studio #9 in St. Helena. I'll be at Ed Breed's studio. Ed, this year's cover artist, will be giving glass blowing demonstrations during the day, too. You can find us at 1734 Scott Street in St. Helena – and you can download a map here. I hope I'll see you!

Countdown to Napa Valley Open Studios!

Napa Valley Open Studios is just around the corner, and Open Studios artists like me are busy preparing for it. The catalogs just came out (they are gorgeous). You can also see who the participating artists are, and where to find them, at www.nvopenstudios.com.

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(That's me on the left, and Nancy Shapiro to my right.)

Napa Valley Art Festival

If you love plein air painting (landscape painting done on location), check out the website for this year's Napa Valley Art Festival at www.napavalleyartfestival.com.

Although this year's festival has ended, the website features links to all the artists who participated. You can follow them to see the work of Calistoga artist Paul Youngman (www.paulyoungman.com); Camille Przewodek (www.przewodek.com), from Petaluma; Jeanette LeGrue (www.legrue.com), who lives in Tomales and shows at Lee Youngman Galleries (www.leeyoungmangalleries.com); and Timothy Horn (www.horndesign.com) from Fairfax, among a large roster of wonderful artists.

While you're there, please don't miss the website of Beverly Wilson (www.beverlywilson.com), a California colorist (and perhaps the only one on the list who is not a plein air painter) whose work continually takes my breath away. Beverly, who lives near Napa, is preparing for Napa Valley Open Studios (http://www.nvopenstudios.com) during the last two weekends of September. It's a wonderful time to visit her and see her paintings and studio in person.