2008 Group Exhibition at the Cate Charles
Gallery in Stonington Connecticut

Kimberly Charles (owner of Cate Charles Gallery) scheduled the opening reception to coincide with a popular Stonington event known as "First Friday's". First Friday's is an event that was started by the local shops that run along the main street in town. On the First Friday of each month the shops remain open late into the evening. On this night, December 5th 2008, so many people attended that it was difficult to walk around at times. There was a constant stream of people visiting the Gallery to view the exhibit.

Kimberly related the very positive feedback she has received about my work from other artists and visitors at the Gallery. She expressed "good things are heading [my] way" and that "[my] work is unique and carries a lot of emotion and feeling". Very encouraging words!

"First Friday's" is an event that is supported by most of the local Stonington businesses on the First Friday of each month. All participating shops remain open late into the evening and as you can see in the below pictures they draw quite a crowd. At one point we estimated there were about a thousand people walking the streets and the police had to restrict vehicle traffic because of the large crowds.

My family took some time to walk through town and visit a few of the shops that were participating in First Friday's. We found a narrow alley with a sign indicating that more shops were at the other end.

When we came to the end of the alley we found the gallery and studio of Russ Kramer. WOW!!! Russ paints absolutely incredible maritime scenes. We talked about our transitions from secular work to full time painting - Russ made the transition in 2002 and I more recently in 2007. We discussed offering high quality reproductions and I was encouraged about my own efforts in this area after hearing Russ relate some of his experiences with the proofing process and working closely with a reproduction supplier. It was very nice meeting such an accomplished artist.