This winter I was invited again to show my work in the the Big 500 show in Portland, Oregon put on by Peoples Art of Portland . It’s a yearly fundraising event benefiting the Oregon Food Bank. Each artist is provided with 8″x 8″ panels and creates art that sells for $40. A portion of the proceeds of art sales from this one show provides several shelters with food for a few months over the year.
I received my invite in mid-October and managed to create 9 paintings by the December 6 deadline for submitted artwork. I’ve never painted so quickly! I painted four more paintings than I did for the show last year.

8″ x 8″
acrylic on board
The show ran from December 13 through January 11. Five of the paintings sold. One of the sold paintings is this portrait of a young woman wearing a blue headband. It was my favorite and I kind of hoped that I would get it back after the show, but I had the feeling that someone would snap it up.
I’ve been taking a break from painting this winter, but now that spring is almost here I’m getting my sketchbook out again. We’ll see what happens in the coming months.