April 6, 2008

Dear Friends,

I hope this newsletter finds you all well and happy. I am writing with an invitation to attend an open house of new work that I hope you'll enjoy.

People often ask me what inspires an artist. Aside from the immense satisfaction I achieve on location or in the studio, I paint to create works that can to go to good homes: places where the owner smiles each time he or she sees the painting, or where the owner is endlessly intrigued by how the work changes in different light. It’s also important for me to know who owns my work.

Unfortunately, I have a list of lost patrons: patrons who moved and whose contact information changed. I’ve also lost track of some works sold through galleries that lost contact with the buyers, or that have now closed.

I had been invited to have a small exhibition at a local gallery this April, but the owners were unwilling to let me have the names and addresses of people who purchased my work. Apparently they were afraid I would then sell behind their back, so our negotiations broke down. It is intriguing how laboriously trust is built and how quickly it can dissolve. As a result, I'm writing to invite you to my studio for one of two open houses.

Quiet Evening, Provence, acrylic, 2007

My new series of work is called “Paintings of the Sun”. Light and shadow play major roles in the form and atmosphere of the works. Most of the paintings were started during trips in 2003 and 2004 to the Luberon Valley of Provence. I hope as you view them you can sense the evanescent cool moisture of a Mediterranean dawn, squint at the pupil-contracting brilliance of the mid-day sun, and smell the roasted grasses and rosemary in the late afternoon heat.

Open House Events Sunday April 20  2-5 pm Sunday May 18  2-5 pm The Pink House 316-4th Street, New Westminster Please RSVP by email or phone 604-525-2412 View new works online! View three pages of the “Paintings of the Sun” online

Please come to one of two open house events on Sunday April 20 and Sunday May 18. Enjoy a glass of wine or a coffee with me, and we’ll talk of sun-drenched vines, of cool, shadowed luncheons beneath the pines, and of hazy landscapes beckoning. Or set up another time to visit. Let us renew the promise of adventure and romance!

Chapel with Olive Trees and Blue Field II, acrylic

Church with Cypresses and Late Afternoon Light, acrylic

With affection, David