Two more paintings...

Two more fabulous paintings... not available until Open House!
If you did not get an invitation you can click here.

17x21"

14x18"

Monday...

I am focused on painting.  Here are two more Ireland landscapes.
Both 14x18

Open House Update...

 I am spending the next 4 days working on my larger paintings for Open House. I have several started but not finished.  I have these ready and you can put them on your wish list but no sales till 2pm on Friday of Open House. I need titles and they are not priced.  For the best selection of original paintings, come on Friday!                      

  14x18 

                        21x17

Save the date...
Andy Smiths 35th Annual Open House
Friday, November 16 from 2 to 10
Saturday, November 17 from 10-10
Sunday, November 18 from noon to 5
Held at 4 North Spruce Street Lititz, PA

Lots of framing is being done and supplies are rolling in weekly.  Invitations are designed, printed and at the mailing house.  You should have it in your mail box any day. My website was updated with an invite you can click on in the top right of the home page.   I think the menu is finished although I think Linda will be cooking a bit less this year so she does not get too tired with surgery scheduled.  I am concentrating on painting... more to come.

2018 Ireland #12

5"x 5" original watercolor   $225.

A view while driving through the Wicklow Mountains.
Fantastic landscapes every where you look!


Day 11
Our last day in Ireland. We are not ready for it to be over.
Kilkenny Castle is first up.  Our favorite impressive room was the Picture Gallery.  Now this is a castle!

A drive through the Wicklow Mountains with beautiful landscapes and we stop at Avoca Village.  This is a working woolen mill and we had a nice tour and again... time to shop.  Here is the final photo of our group.

The girls are already talking about a 2020 trip!

2018 Ireland #11

SOLD!
4"x6" original watercolor
$135. (unframed)  Available to the 1st person to email
If unsold by 10/25 at 7pm, price goes to $250.

A view from Old Midleton Distillery, home of Jameson whisky.


Day 10
Excellent is my word for today!  We started with a walking tour of Kinsale with an excellent guide Barry.  The girls had a little shopping time here before heading off to Cobh.  Cobh has a large seaport with lots of cruise ships coming in.  It is also the port where the last 123 passengers boarded the Titanic.  Our main focus was climbing a huge hill; I have no idea why we did not get into a cab and save Linda's knees... but we wanted to see the St. Colmans Cathedral.  An excellent Cathedral in European style.  Worth the hike and excellent views from the top.  

Next highlight for the day is a stop at Old Midleton Distillery.
We had an excellent tour and capped it off with a tasting.

We both decided we rather liked Jameson!  Home base tonight is in Kilkenny and we are staying at Kilkenny Rivercourt.   Only one more day on our excellent Ireland tour.

2018 Ireland #10

SOLD!
4"x6" original watercolor
$125. (unframed)  Available to the 1st person to email
If unsold by 10/24 at 7pm, price goes to $250.

I was asked where are the sheep...  So here is a landscape from between Kenmare and Kinsale with two grazing sheep.  I left off the pink owners mark that was on them!


Day 9
My word for the day is outstanding!
It is raining today, we have been very lucky with the weather.  Our first stop is an outstanding Stone Circle near Kenmare.  15 impressive stones in a circle.  Also a hawthorn tree where people, including all of us, hung a wish.

The town of Kenmare is our shopping and coffee stop.  Then off to  Molly Gallivan's Cottage.  An outstanding look into Irish history and a working farm with  owner/guide Stephan who is passionate about his farm.

Our tour guide had a surprise stop at Kinsale Garden of Remembrance.  A garden dedicated to the fireman who died in NYC during 911. There is a tree for each fallen firefighter.  Extremely moving and unexpected and yes, outstanding.   Worth the time to read the link.

We are now in the seaport of Kinsale and our home for tonight is the Actons Hotel.

Cable TV interview...

I spent the day setting up for our show in Mohnton, PA  This is an excellent small show I think is worth your time.  I will be demonstrating a painting with pewter.

PA Traditional Crafts & Folk Art
Saturday, October 20  from 10 to 3
held at the Allegheny Evangelical Lutheran Church
1327 Alleghenyville Rd  Mohnton, PA
FREE Admission!!
Great interview featuring craftsman and myself for this Saturday’s show in Mohnton, Pa
The interview starts 1:36 minutes in... click here and give it a few moments to load.

2018 Ireland #9

4"x6" original watercolor
 $275.

I went with a still life from Kerry Bog Village.  


Day 8
I am going with dazzling today... 
Started our day with a tour of Kerry Bog Village   which shows life in the 19th century.  And we finished this tour with a little Irish coffee!  Evidently it is never too early for Irish coffee!

The Ring of Kerry is next.  Because of high winds the large tour busses were not able to be on the road, our bus is smaller so off we went and had very little traffic.  The dazzling views change often.  From seascapes to landscapes, views of the ocean, Skellig, rock walls, ruins, sheep.
Up and down mountains, one lane roads!  Dazzling!   We capped off our day with an unplanned night of dazzling Irish dancing and music.  The group included several retired Riverdance dancers.  

2018 Ireland #8

6"x4" original watercolor  $250.

Working on my Irish greens and stone walls. 
A view from Kilmacduagh Abbey

Day 7
My word for today is phenomenal!
We started our morning with a walking tour of Ennis.  All the ladies wanted shopping time in this town, including Linda who is not a big shopper but there was no time, the bus was leaving.  Off to Kilmacduagh Abbey.  

This may have been a top 10 for us.  Basically a phenomenal cemetery and Abbey ruins with phenomenal views.  Now a drive through the Burren;  means rocky place!  More phenomenal views.

Off to another highlight... the really phenomenal Cliffs of Moher

Here is Carl, Joan, Linda, Beth and me with the cliffs behind us.  I cannot believe Linda made it up to the top from the parking lot but she was determined.  The rest of our group was out hiking.  Home tonight was Killarney Royal in Killarney.  Our favorite hotel on the tour.

Larger painting competed

I spent a very cold weekend in Bedford, PA.  Last week we were in 90+ on Sunday and this week it was 45.  And to top it off we were camping!  With frozen fingers I managed to finish this masterpiece.  It is from Monasterboice, County Louth in Ireland.  14x18 and will be available at Open House!  Put it on your wish list!

This Saturday, October 20 I am exhibiting with a fantastic group of artisians
PA Traditional Crafts and Folk Art
FREE!!  from 10 to 3
Held at:
Allegheny Evangelical Lutheran Church
1327 Alleghenyville Rd
Mohnton, PA
It's free and worth the trip...

Thursday check in

No painting today! 
I have 4 cases of glass to cut and a van to pack.
Plus a few things on Linda's list to catch up on.


You can find me:
Fall Foliage FestivalOctober 13-14
held in downtown Bedford, PA
9 to 5   ~  rain or shine
My booth is #177 on Juliana St
near the corner of Juliana and Penn St

It is to be chilly this weekend so I will be sporting one of my new Irish hats...  maybe my sheep hat...

2018 Ireland #7

5"x5" original watercolor   $225.

My first day of really seeing the green!  Warm yellow undertones with emerald. This is my first lrish landscape.  Overcast skies.  Somewhere between Dublin and Ennis.


Day 6
Linda and Kathy, our trip planners decided we would try a small group bus tour for the second half of the trip. To give the girls a break from planning and making decisions. We have never been on a bus tour.  There was 18 people and we had an awesome guide and bus driver.  Awesome is my word for today!  We went with Back-Roads Touring UK.  We were picked up in Dublin and began the tour with a stop at the Irish National Stud Farm.  Awesome guide and awesome grounds with gardens.  Next up is Portumna Castle.  Awesome grounds, and an awesome entrance and front of the castle.  The castle has only one floor conserved, and they are working on the rest.  I am currently working on a larger painting, an awesome window from here which I will show you later.  We spent the night in Ennis at the Old Ground Hotel.  

Here is Linda coming out of one of the little out buildings in the gardens of the Stud Farm.

2018 Ireland #6

SOLD!
4"x6" original watercolor
$125. (unframed)  Available to the 1st person to email
If unsold by 10/11 at 7pm, price goes to $250.

A statue from Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.


Day 5
We did a before the lines tour of the Book of Kells and Dublin Castle.  It is impossible to wrap your mind around a book from 384AD... and a Castle originally built in the 13th century on a site previously settled by the Vikings.  But a favorite of ours is the Long Room in the Old Library at Trinity College.  It is filled with 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books and is one of the most impressive libraries in the world.  Built between 1712 and 1732.  Impressive!  Now off to a cemetery.   Besides churches Linda has a thing for cemeteries.  We never miss one with good statuary.  Glasnevin Cemetery is next and we are scheduled for a  "Dead Interesting" tour.  Fun young guide with cute interesting stories about some of the buried.  We  finish our day with an evening of food, Folklore and Fairies!  A surprisingly good Irish meal and entertainment for our last night in Dublin.

2018 Ireland #5

6"x4" original watercolor     $275

Inside view of Dublin cityscape ...

Day 4
We started our morning in the city of Dublin with a walking food tour.  Our guide was French but loved Dublin!  Knowledgeable about the history and passionate about food.  A 3 hour tour included a pastery shop, great coffee, a market, Irish stew tasting,  cheese shop, whiskey tasting and ice cream.  Great fun and shops we would have overlooked.  Next up was the Green Hop on Hop Off bus.  Our goal was to get an overview but we were short time so we stopped at Christs Church, probably founded in 1028!  St. Patricks founded 1191.  Linda has a "thing" for churches. A wonderful dinner at Winding Stair.   I felt bad for Linda, I think we were three flights up!  Her knees got a huge work out today.  But the real reward was a fantastic view of the Ha'Penny Bridge.

 We finished our evening with a Musical Pub Crawl.  It was a fun night of the background to Irish music and jokes.  Fun full day.

Meanwhile, back at home we finished a long weekend showing in Waterford, VA.  Reorganizing and focusing on this weekend in Bedford, PA.  And Linda is organizing things for Open House, save the date of November 16-18!

Waterford, VA show

And we are off...
Attending the show in Waterford, VA
This is a big deal!  Hard to get into.
And we have to dress colonial and demonstrate!

Waterford Fair
held in historic Waterford, VA
Friday, October 5,      10 to 5
Saturday, October 6,  10 to 5
Sunday, October 7,    10 to 5
My booth is at the "Old School"  up the hill!


Meanwhile I finished the 18x24 Malahide Castle painting I was working on.  This is not available until Open House, November 16-18.  Save the date, there will be fantastic new original paintings!

2018 Ireland #4

4"x6" original watercolor
$250
Love the colors of the houses... this is from the fishing village of Howth.


Day 3
Our last day with our guide Derek.  Linda does not usually book more than one day with a guide in case we do not like them but for some reason she booked Derek for all three days and luckily it was perfect.  We are leaving this area and heading to Dublin but stopping first at Skerries Mill.  They ground wheat here and made bread. Interesting tour.  It was so odd to see windmills.  I am looking like I fit in with my new Irish cap.  



















Next is the fishing village of Howth.  We originally planned on this being home base but so glad we picked Skerries instead.  We walked around and had lunch.

The group and our guide Derek.

We also went to Howth Summit for the coastal views.  Now its the next phase of our trip, Dublin.  We checked into our home for three days, The Ariel House.
This place had excellent service, the staff was extra helpful and kind and the breakfasts were great.  Away from the downtown noise and a nice neighborhood.  We have another couple joining us tonight to round out our group to 9!

2018 Ireland #3

SOLD!
4"x6" original watercolor
$125. (unframed)  Available to the 1st person to email
If unsold by 10/3 at 7pm, price goes to $250

Marvelous crosses everywhere.  This is a special cross found in Monasterboice.


Day 2:
Our guide Derek picked us up at 8am and we started with Monasterboice graveyard.  From the 5th century!  Some of the best crosses in Ireland.  Marvelous!  This was a highlight.

Marvelous is my word for the day!!
Next was Newgrange.  Marvelous!  Older than the pyramids! A bit intimidating getting inside but worth the effort. I cannot even describe this place or how I felt inside the stones.  Off to The Hill of Tara.  We next stopped at a local craft house with Alice spinning wool from black and white sheep called "Jacob Sheep" which go back to the bible.  I had to have a hat.

And we finish our tour day at an abandoned historic Irish Monastery (Mainistir Bheigti) where part of BRAVEHEART was filmed.  Founded in 1147!  MARVELOUS!!

Busy but marvelous day with only a little drizzle at the Hill of Tara.  Blessed with good weather.  We capped it off with of all things... A tasty Italian dinner at DiVino in Skerries.

The girls: Linda, Kathy, Joan and Beth, considering their wine order!