Yeah I know, it's been awhile since I've done a journal entry... I'm bad... busy and bad. Anyway lot's of stuff has been going on. I put a couple of pieces in the Southern Oregon Art Show in August. It was a juried show and I received two ribbons in two different categories, so that was kinda cool. I haven't done too many shows, so it was nice to get a bit of validation to some of my new work. It's weird though, it's kind of against everything I stand for in art... being "Juried" that is. I think that a "real" artist shouldn't need validation, but I still like receiving it every now and then. I guess that means I'm not a 'real artist" yet, or I'm just really insecure at it, or I'm just a wacko... yeah, I think that's it!

I've attached a couple of pics of some recent pieces. The first one "Madre Azul" is a third world-ish, wall cabinet, alter-ish, kind of piece. It received an Honorable mention in the show I mentioned above. It's quite a departure from most of my art furniture... but it was a ton of fun. By the way "Madre Azul" means "Blue Mother" in Spanish... named that for obvious reasons. The second piece is for the wife of a Modern Guitars Magazine regular and Fender Guitar fan, Kevin Kauffman. His wife Jennifer has been waiting patiently for this piece for over seven months now. Kevin and Jennifer saw my website from reading my journal on Modern Guitars, and commissioned me to make this jewelry box. It's similar to the one I made for Heather Locklear back in '97, but done more in my current style. It's made from Pomele Bubinga, Birdseye Maple and Ebony, is finished in hand rubbed Tung Oil and the interior is upholstered in split pigskin suede. It's a really nice piece and I hope Jennifer likes it and gets a lot of use out of it.

Well, that's it for now. I'm getting ready for two new shows, one in November and the other in December. The two shows have completely different styles of pieces going in them and I'm trying to juggle all of the different pieces in my studio... it's getting weird... I'm also adding a "Gift Shop Gallery" to my website to start offering more of my items for sale. Lot's of stuff going on!

I'll try not to let it be so long until next time... talk to you all soon.