I know I haven't written in a very long time and I'm hoping to change that. Things are going super well. I'm teaching lots of art classes, I'm still working on a book illustration, and I have a few little puppy dogs to paint for commission work. A few months ago I received a package from Art Snacks, which is a art supply monthly box program. For $25 a month, Art Snacks will send you a small box of random art supplies to play and try out. I did this for a few months and loved it, but I couldn't afford it every month, so I haven't gotten a box in a while. But in one box there was this wonderful little eraser and pencil sharpener duo, by Derwent Art. This tool now is a must have for me. I take it with me sketching and it's on my drawing table as I'm typing. I love the combination. I've never liked electric pencil sharpeners, because I feel like they eat my pencils. I prefer to sharpen my pencils by hand and I will say the Derwant sharpener really does a good job at getting my pencils to a needle sharp point. The eraser is good quality and having the little plastic cover is nice to help keep it clean in my pencil pouches. Over all I give this tool a big thumbs up and I would highly recommend it to everyone!

Today, September 27th, 2015, I finished my second large street/chalk art drawing. The drawing took about 8 hours to complete. I also had three younger artist, Ava, Maliah, and Carmine, who assisted with the sky and the design in the lower right corner. This was done in Prosser, WA. I was invited to join them and I'm very pleased with the artwork. I would like to thank Dave Poynter for helping me set up the grid lines, my dad for letting me borrow knee pads and tools to help me create this master piece, my husband for all the support and encouragement, and last all the people who enjoyed watching it come to life. God Bless!

Now that things are slowing down because the farmers markets are ending soon, I can begin to focus on the commission work more and working more at Macy's. I really enjoyed the farmers markets this year. The Walla Walla Valley Farmers Market was in the best location, with a park like setting and some of the sweetest vendors you'll ever meet. The Pendleton Farmers Market was great also, good crowds, and great people running the show . I will for sure be joining them again next year. The Richland Farmers Market which is still going to be open until Halloween is great. It's local for me and has a great manager. I feel so blessed to have all these opportunities it's just amazing. I did create a series of Halloween and fall drawings this last week. Check them out here on my web site. I also have these available on www.fineartamerica.com and www.redbubble.com . I also will be working on Christmas and religious images for the up and coming holiday's. If you have anything special you'd like done for the holiday's please get your orders in soon. I need at least 2 weeks to complete any artwork and that is depending on the detail and media chosen. Thank you all for the support of my art!

This month has been a blessing. I have such good friends that are letting me draw their furry babies. I've got several projects going and I'm working about 3 farmers markets a week. This next weekend I will be taking a break from Pendleton and Walla Walla, but I will attend the Richland Farmers Market as long as they call me in.

https://www.facebook.com/MarketAtTheParkway

 I won't be going to Pendleton so I can pick up my son who just started second grade from school. This will affect my attendance at the Pendleton Farmers Market, but I will be there during the weekend of Round-up!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pendleton-Farmers-Market

 https://www.facebook.com/wallawallavalleyfarmersmarket

The Walla Walla Valley Farmers Market
will not be doing a market this weekend since the Walla Walla Fair will be going on. The Walla Walla Valley Farmers Market will have a booth in the pavilion during the fair and they will have lots of information on the kids day that farmers market will be doing on Sept 13th. I will be running a craft table and painting hands for free/tips. The weekend on Sept 20th I will not be doing any Markets, the reason being I'm getting married. My fiancé and I have been together for over 3 years and we are ready to show our family, friends, and most importantly god that we want to be sole mates for eternity. The weekend of  Saturday, Sept 27 and Sunday Sept 28th, I will be attending a chalk art walk in Prosser, WA. The hot air balloon festival will be going on that same weekend, it will be a great time to visit Prosser, WA and check out my artwork and some hot air balloons.

http://www.prosserchamber.org/index.php/events/icalrepeat.detail/2014/09/27/319/-/harvest-festival

I want to thank everyone for the support and I appreciate that you are helping to support my family. Thank you so very much!

 I really enjoy doing commission work it lets me explore into area's I may have not been before. I primarily like to draw or paint animals, but I'm open to try just about anything. If and when you would like something customized you will need to understand that I will be creating the piece with my style and my technique. I have a large sample of work on the main page of this web site. I will also say each media ( pencil, color pencil, watercolor, pen & ink, oil pastel, chalk pastel, and acrylic painting) presents it's own challenges and my style will change also. I can not paint something in the same way as I have drawn it. I can get more detail in a drawing then in a painting, but paints will last longer and you get a different style with every brush stroke. I will be presenting you with a contract, and in this contract you will find that my time is valuable and that if you are unhappy with the work that will be fine, but I still want to be compensated for the time I put into the piece. Lately, I've been under pricing myself just for the opportunity to get the work, but this may not be the case much longer. People get surprised by the price, but you have to think it takes time to create all the sketches before the project begins. It might take some research so I can get the image just right. I price myself at about $20.00 an hour when doing customized work. The national average for an artist is $22.00 an hour. This may be lower or high depending on the subject, detail, and media. I do try to work with you but also keep in mind that some media's are not changeable; watercolors and pen & ink. Also, once I create the piece and give it to you, you can not go an reproduce it with out my consent, it's a copyright issue. Now if you share it on Facebook or the social media that's fine just make sure to credit myself as the artist. I just wanted to get you all informed so when you ask me to do a painting or drawing you know what you'll be getting. You'll be getting a one of a kind piece of artwork created by my own hands and touched by my heart.

For this past month of July I have been blessed with great opportunities. I took on a second Farmers Market in Pendleton on Friday's from 4pm-7pm. It's a great market with lots of vendors and great produce. I also was able to attend the Richland Farmers Market which is open on every Friday from 9am - 1pm and I was very impressed with the organization and set up. The foot traffic was amazing a. I'm only a back up vendor for Richland so I have to take the opportunity when it comes. I have been working on my booth design and I'm far from perfect but it all takes time.

 I finished several new pictures and right now I have about 5-6 projects going. I went and meet with Leah at Hang Ups in Richland WA of Columbia Park trail. She is a fantastic framer and I love talking to her. I will be using her more often that's for sure. I attended the Art and Wine Walk in Prosser WA last week. Can I say a big thanks needs to go out to my sister Jessica and her husband Joey! They came out and hung out with me. The event was fantastic and well worth going. I can't wait for next years! Sixth Street Gallery in Prosser is fantastic and Carol the owner is an inspiration. I also know that she will be show casing my art sometime in the future.

I just finished this 11 x 14 inch oil pastel on art paper drawing. The story behind it is that I was sitting in my art booth across the path watching this beautiful woman with 4 beautiful little kids shopping at the Walla Walla Farmers Market. She parked the little red buggy for about 5 minutes, so I did a quick sketch.  I had brought the oil pastels already intending to use them. By the way I used 2 sets of oil pastels, one was by Cray-Pas they are called Expressionist Extra Fine Quality Oil Pastels with a set of 25, I like these because they are easy to hold and they have lasted a very long time. The other brand is by Pro-Art its just called Oil Pastels and its a set of 36. These are smaller to hold but the variety of colors is fantastic. The art paper I used was by Strathmore and is was just the medium surface drawing paper. This took me about 3 hours total to complete. Prints and cards will be available soon. If you are interested in purchasing a print or a greeting card send me a message and I can get it all set up.

For the month of June I have the opportunity to show my artwork in the window of T & L Office Supply, it's located right in the middle of downtown Kennewick. Adrian the owner is a great person and was very nice in letting me show my artwork in his window. I originally had signed up back in January for the month of July, but he was able to fit me in for the month of June. And for an update I've been attending the Walla Walla Farmers Market on Saturdays and things are going great. There are so many talented vendors I feel really honored to be included in the bunch. I also met with the most awesome gallery owner in Prosser, WA on June 1st. Carol the owner of Sixth Street Art & Gift Gallery located in Prosser WA, was fantastic and full of information. She told me about Cyber 509 which is an artist group I am going to definitely be joining if they will have me of course. She also invited me to join a great Art and Wine event going on in mid July, this event is by invitation only. I'll be giving out more information on this as soon as I get myself booked up. I've had a few offers for commission work but nothing set in stone yet.

A big thank you goes out to all the great people who have been helping me.

*Cheers"

I also thank god for the great gifts in my life, I couldn't have done all this with out him! In Jesus name, Amen!

About a week ago I was looking through Craigslist as I normally do to either find people looking for an artist or fishing for idea's. I advertise often not only for myself, but for my fiancé's painting business as well, "Bertsch's Painting". Well, I found an add from the Tri-Cities Trader seeking information on local artists and the best part  was that the publication was offering this service for free. I made contact with Heather Kaas and she was fantastic to work with. I now have my first article in a local publication and I'm feeling pretty happy about it. To see the article just click this link;

http://www.newspaperclub.com/tctrader/k1q937v2-tri-cities-trader-june-2014-issue-1

The official print will be out in about a week. Things just keep moving forward and I'm very thankful for that!