I just found out I won the Betty King Wright Award at the Red River Valley Museum Art show in Texas for "Cradled in the Past". Love to win awards as they help confirm that my work is moving in the right direction. And cash awards are really terrific what with the cost of getting paintings framed, photographed & shipped not to mention the jury fees, etc. I've been spending large amounts on great, hand made frames for some of the originals & custom frames for others & I found a wonderful custom frame that I use on all of the prints.

I also finished revamping my web site. I felt it was getting tired & out of date. I hope those who visit like the new look. www.lindawalkerart.com

I've got to get back to my painting, I'm working on a calf (Buttons is our first calf - we just had another we named Bows & bought a young heifer my mother-in-law named Fancy). I'll probably do paintings of all of them this year.

This is the first stage oil drawing of 'Buttons' - isn't she adorable? I'll show the progression as I go.

I'm back to my blog

One of my best friends came to visit for 3 weeks, we had a great time together.

I have been busy with my artwork just not painting as much & often as I should or more importantly want. I'm in the middle of helping artists apply to WAOW. That's a big job, even with 2 of us working at it.

I have created a couple of paintings that I'm happy with & was accepted to the art shows I wanted. There are a couple more that I would like to get into this year. The San Bernardino Wildlife show is the only one I travel to to show & sell my work although I'm thinking of applying for another one next year. I don't want to get spread too thin, I want to be able to enjoy without being rushed.

The artist group here in Bemidji have scheduled me to give a 3 day workshop beginning June 16. This one is how to use your reference to create a painting, I don't use one standard method so it should be interesting. I also have one student who received a grant to have me give private classes in color. I do enjoy giving workshops, I always come away with new knowledge.

"Cradled in the Past" is shown at the Red River Valley Museum for their show at their museum in Vernon, TX, through June 27.
I own the Ute basket that the fox is curled up in.

"Elephant Walk" is an oil painting that was accepted to the OPA (Oil Painters of America) juried National show. It's displayed at Dana Gallery, Missoula, MT until June 12.
My reference for this was from my trip to Kenya. I'd sure love to go back soon.

I wish I could have gone to one of the openings but I had company come the day before. Hopefully I can get into them again next year & go to the opening.

I'll try to write more - once every few months is not often enough.