FineArtAmerica update

Back to business now that the Holidays are over, guests are gone, and Holiday Concert Series has run its' course.  Speaking of the Holiday Concert Series, as promised, here's a quick review of the Pink Martini New Year's Eve Concert - FANTASTIC!!  One of best concerts I've ever attended; I'd rank it right up there with the James Taylor/Carole King concert that we saw last summer.  And you could tell that the audience was filled Pink Martini fans, because even though they may not be widely known around the country yet, whenever one of their signature songs was performed, the place went wild.  China Forbes, their singer is amazing.  If you listen to any of their CD's, you get accustomed to hearing her sing in English, Spanish, Italian and French, no big deal.  In addition to those selections, she sang three versions of "Silent Night", in English, the original German, and Arabic.  A traditional Chinese New Year's song was performed, in Chinese of course, and yet another portion of the show was devoted to Hannukah, sung in Hebrew and a Spanish/Hebrew hybrid language, call it Hebrish or Spanbrew or something. But it was beatiful nonetheless.



Dall Sheep

Okay, back to the topic. Pictured here is one of my latest postings to FineArtAmerica, titled "Dall Sheep". The link in the title will take you over to the profile page at FineArtAmerica.  Since I have over 60 images posted there now, I've organized everything into Galleries to make it easier to tour through the site.  The galleries for the most part will mirror what I have posted on my website, like Faces West, Wildlife, Horses, etc.  As a reminder, there is still almost two months left on the 20% OFF promotion for Giclee prints and note cards purchased through FineArtAmerica.  That Discount Code again is GDPDBZ, and expires on 2/26/2011.

Holiday Concerts - Part III - Pink Martini

Whew!  It's been a hectic week, so I'd better get this in tonight, since we head for Portland tomorrow for Pink Martini's New Year's Eve Concert at Schnitzer Auditorium.  The link in the title will take you to the home page for the Official Pink Martini website, where you can listen to some music, watch some videos, find out about their upcoming concert schedule and more.  If you've never heard them play, or for that matter heard of them, you owe it to yourself to get to a concert or at least get your hands on a CD.  They are yet another fabulous Portland area band, and a great way to close out our Holiday Concert Series.  Now I need a rest!

Last minute gifts?

Well, here I am, a day late and a dollar short as usual!  In addition to my website, FineArtAmerica Gallery, and CafePress Storefront, I now have an aStore as part of the Amazon Associates program - just in time for the last three days of Christmas shopping!  It pays to check into your various accounts once in awhile.  Here, I've had an Amazon account and been part of the Amazon Seller Central program for about a year now and wasn't aware of this other option until I went shopping at the Kindle Store last week and noticed the section on the page regarding opening an aStore as part of the Amazon Associates program.  So anyway, I've been working on this for a few days, starting out with some basics and adding a few different categories to get started, and voila! Here we go.  For starters, I'm listing categories like Apparel and Accessories, Books, Music, Cameras & Photo, Computers, DVD, Sports & Outdoors, Video Games and of course Kindle Store.  Eventually, I hope to have the entire gamut of Amazon products available as I continue to add more categories.  So, all of you online Amazon shoppers out there - please bookmark my storefront for easy access.  Of course, I'll provide quick links on my website, newsletters and this blog as well. 

As a follow-up to last week's post about our trip to Leavenworth, WA - a great time was had by all!  We checked into the Pension Anna, on Friday.  Pictured here is the old Chapel, which was converted into lodging at the Inn, and is where we stayed.  Spacious rooms downstairs, with a loft and two single beds on second level.  Saturday morning brought the snow - started about 9:30, and continued all day long - to the tune of about 16 inches of snow!  Made for a great sleigh ride/dinner that evening, although getting back into town afterwards was a little tricky.  Last weekend was the Christmas Lighting Ceremony.  The whole town is lit up and looks like a picture postcard; the streets are blocked off for pedestrian traffic, and there are all kinds of events that take place throughout the day.  All in all, one of my favorite places!  The only bad part of the weekend was that we didn't get to see our friends A.J. & Terrie.  Due to all of the snow on Saturday, he had to spend the day Sunday plowing out his driveway and road to their B&B - Sky Meadows Retreat, so their guests would be able to get out. We'll catch up with them next time around.

Misty River Christmas Concert



Misty River Band



As much as I complain about the rain in Oregon during the winter months, this is a great time of year to be in the Pacific Northwest, if for no other reason than the Holiday Concerts.  A couple of weeks ago I did a couple of blogs about one of our favorite Portland area bands - The Trail Band, and their terrific concert.  Well, last night we attended the Christmas Concert of another of our favorite Portland area bands - Misty River, so I guess this was the HOLIDAY CONCERT SERIES - PART II.  Another great night of music!  The link in the title will take you to their website, where you can check out their schedule if you live in this area, read about their 13 years together, and even download some of their music.  Again, I think we have every CD they've come out with so far.  MISTY RIVER blends folk, bluegrass, country, Celtic and original music into a seamless and highly distinctive Americana sound that has entranced thousands of fans.  In two weeks, we'll have the HOLIDAY CONCERT SERIES - PART III - New Year's Eve with PINK MARTINI!  Yet another fantastic Portland area band.  I'll keep you posted on that one.

You'll Love it in Leavenworth!

Heading out to Leavenworth (no, not that Leavenworth) for the weekend.  This is a photo of Leavenworth, WA from a snowy day last January.  We were visiting some friends, getting in a little snow-shoeing, a sleigh ride some great meals and some wine tasting.  This weekend starts the Christmas Lighting of the town, and we wanted a return visit.  Leavenworth is a quaint little Bavarian town about 20 miles west of Wenatchee, and is one of our favorite spots to visit.  We are actually hoping to relocate there one of these days, but that is another story. The link in the title will take you to one of the Leavenworth websites, and you can get an idea of what the town looks like all lit up with Christmas lights.  Quite breathtaking!  Every building in the town must follow the Bavarian village theme, and it is quite a festive little town.  There's always something going on.  There a couple of ski areas nearby, so it is a winter destination.  In the spring and summer, the town square is home to a summer-long art festival (which is why I want to find my way there one of these days).  Lots of friendly folks, and the neighboring towns of Cashmere and Peshastin are quite nice as well, and nearby Wenatchee is large enough to have some of the anemities of a large city, yet small enough to retain that small city feeling.



A Trail Band Christmas

Time for our annual excursion to the Trail Band Christmas Concert in Salem, OR.  The Trail Band is an 8-piece all-star group of musicians from Oregon that present musical theatre performances dramatizing the history and music of the West.  Featured in the group are Marv and Rindy Ross, of Quarterflash fame ("Harden my Heart"), and the Christmas Concert always features guest performer Linda Hornbuckle as well. Click on the link in the title to go to their website to meet the Trail Band, check out their performance calendar and listen to some of their music. They are an amazing group of talented musicians and put on quite a show each year.  They are very reminiscent of a group I used to perform with, The Colorado History Theater, and our production of  "Legend & Legacy".  Where "Legend & Legacy" told of the history of Colorado Springs and the surrounding areas through vignettes, character studies and music, The Trail Band is mostly music with some humorous anecdotes.  Their Christmas CD's are great, as are the CD's that focus on the early settlers.  I think we must have just about every CD they've come out with so far.  If you live in this area of the Pacific Northwest, you should definitely try to see one of their performances, and if not, I highly recommend starting your own CD collection.