Dear Friends:

Can you believe it’s already August?  I’m looking forward to a number of events and activities this month, including this weekend’s Steppin’ Out Festival in Blacksburg, Virginia.  Our Blacksburg gallery is one of the sponsors and will have a booth downtown on College Avenue.  We’ll be highlighting our new print to benefit the New River Conservancy, River Guardians, and we’ll also be displaying and selling tickets for the gorgeous quilt that is being raffled to benefit my Foundation for Children’s Education.  We’ll also be inviting everyone to visit the gallery during our show August 26-27.  I’m looking forward to seeing all the exhibits.  It’s really interesting to see what people will be showing—and the temptations—and share in the friendship and camaraderie. 

This glorious quilt featuring one of my hand-painted centerpieces is the subject of a year-long raffle to benefit my Foundation for Children’s Education.  The quilt was designed and stitched by Robin Jones of Kennesaw, GA.  For tickets, please call the Foundation office at 1-800-430-1320; 1 for $3 or 2 for $5.  You may also purchase tickets at my Blacksburg gallery’s booth at the Steppin’ Out Festival this weekend.  The lucky winner will be drawn on December 3.

On Crooked River features The Lodge at Crooked River, which is near Hiltons, Virginia.  A couple years ago, my daughter Becky and I visited there on our way to Kingsport, TN, for a show and had a lovely tour and lunch with the owners, the Templeton’s.  It’s such a beautiful part of the country.  You can read more about The Lodge in my November 25, 2015, newsletter.  The print will be released during my Blacksburg gallery show August 26-27.  For more information, please call the gallery at 540-552-6446.

P. Buckley Moss Galleries, Ltd., is hosting our Dealers’ Meeting in Waynesboro, Virginia, the weekend of August 11-13, and I’m looking forward to seeing my wonderful dealers.  This is a great opportunity for us to get together with them and exchange ideas and information.

On Saturday, August 19, Becky and I will be in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for a show with King James Galleries of Gettysburg.  Gallery manager Debra Starry and I will be releasing a special new print featuring orioles.

Pride of Maryland will be released during my show with King James Galleries of Gettysburg on August 19.  For more information, please contact the gallery at 717-398-2034 or 855-855-1863.

This past Sunday, my daughters Mary and Becky and I went to Nesselrod on the New River in Radford, Virginia, to see a performance of the Mary Draper Ingles Drama by Radford University students in the Nesselrod’s outdoor amphitheatre.  Mary Draper Ingles and other members of her family were kidnapped by Shawnee Indians near the Horseshoe Bend of the New River and Draper Meadows in 1755.  Mary escaped her captors and endured an 800-mile, six-week journey on foot back to her home on the New River.  Last year I released a print edition featuring Mary’s cabin. 

The night before the play, the Nesselrod, which is a B&B, hosted a lovely dinner, and a number of Mary Draper Ingles’ descendants were there.  So many still live in the area and are proud of their history.  What fun living in such a historic area!

This is the stage at Nesselrod on the New River’s outdoor amphitheatre, where Mary, Becky, and I saw the Mary Draper Ingles Drama.

What are the odds that I’d run into a Society member wearing the same jacket as me?  We were also both wearing our sterling silver bracelets and Society member beads.  It’s so nice to see them being worn, and I always wear mine out, too.  I guess we both have good taste!

See you soon!