May/June 2026

The Beast And Other Stories

Welcome to all my new St. George, Fort Worth, and Kansas City-area readers!

I’m still painting like crazy, trying to keep up with myself, as I’m sandwiching in a trip to Portugal the first two weeks of June— a long-delayed high school graduation trip with my daughter, who is now two years post-graduation— before hitting the road again for art shows.

It’s been an extremely busy and successful show season so far. The story, on repeat, has been vehicle troubles (those of you who read the April Newsletter will get an update on the continuing saga of The Beast) and challenging weather… but fantastic sales. I’ll take it; it’s much better than the reverse!

Speaking of The Beast, and especially for those of you (there are many) who like to hear about my travel tribulations: The catalytic converter rattle didn’t wait until I got back from my Utah show. My mechanic had warned me it was a ticking time bomb and needed to be addressed ASAP, as it would eventually plug the exhaust and stop me in my tracks. Well, it did. I got 30 miles down the road on my way to St. George before it absolutely lost all power and came to a stop by the side of the road.

Since I had hit the road at 5am, to get a good day’s driving in (I had plans, oh I had plans… ), I got the privilege of sitting in my cold van until my mechanic’s shop opened at 8:30am. He had me tow it to him after which he did a workaround (shh!) and got me back on the road by 1pm, eight hours after I’d begun. Could’ve been worse—could’ve happened in the boonies instead of half-an-hour from home.

The drive to St. George was fairly eventful; I ran into hail and very high winds in Idaho and Utah, and spent a fair portion of the trip driving between 20-40 mph on the highway with a death grip on the steering wheel. The van is high-top and rear-heavy, so wind gusts are not our friend under any conditions, but add in heavy rain and hail, and it’s miserable. But the weather in St. George was perfect and the show was fantastic!

The drive to Fort Worth was beautiful, although I did unintentionally traverse some reception-less backroads in the dark and at high elevation through some part of Colorado, following ol’ GPS Lady’s directions. I was glad to finally get back on the interstate and pull over for the night. The weather in Texas, on the other hand… cold, rainy, and thunderstorm-y. I spent much of the weekend shivering under a rain poncho. However, the show clocked in as my personal best ever, and is much of the reason for the panic-painting going on in the studio right now. A good problem to have. :)

I parked The Beast at DFW and flew home for a couple of weeks of studio time before flying back and driving to Kansas City for the Brookside show. The weather was perfect, and the weekend was serene other than picking up a nail in one of the tires. I thought I was going to have to have it towed again, but a very nice truck stop employee told me he’d air it up and assured me it would get me to a nearby tire store. It did. Bless him.

Early on the second day the drive home, and well into Colorado (again!), I encountered a reader-board informing me of a winter storm warning beginning at 9pm that evening. Well. I’ve been stuck in downtown Denver in a hailstorm before, where it piles up in drifts and halts traffic and the sound on the windshield is like Kingdom come. No thank you. I decided to outrun it and put in a very long day before stopping for the night north of Salt Lake City, ironically in a little town called Snowville.

OK. This has been a novel. Thanks for reading!

Warmly,

Rachel (feeling grateful, befuddled, and slightly anxious, all at once)

p.s. The fuel sensor on The Beast just stopped working. I assume this means terrible weather and fantastic sales at my next show, which will be in Spokane, WA, at the end of this month.

In the Studio:

Collector Corner

SHOW SCHEDULE

MAY

29-31: MAC ArtFest, Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, Spokane, WA. 12-7pm  Friday, 10am-7pm Saturday, 10am-5pm Sunday.  More info here.  Booth TBA.

JUNE

19-21: Edmonds Art Festival, Edmonds, WA. 10-7pm Friday/Saturday, 10-5pm Sunday. Returning to the Puget Sound area! Here's the show's website for more info. Booth TBA.

JULY

3-5: Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, CO. 10am-8pm Friday & Saturday, 10am-6pm Sunday. Second time at this show, super excited to be going back! More info here. Booth 101.

11-12: Art Fair On The Square, Madison, WI. 9am-6pm Saturday, 10am-5pm Sunday. A return visit for this show, too! More info here. Booth 554.

24-26: Bellevue Arts Fair, Bellevue Square, Bellevue, WA. 10-7pm Friday/Saturday, 11-6pm Sunday. Here's the show's website for more info. I'll be in booth G-06.


Please patronize these galleries:
Art on Oak, & Stave & Stone Winery in Hood River, OR; PAM's Rental Sales Gallery in Portland, OR. Check them out! 

Com, Let Us Be Friends

Come, let us be friends, you and I,
     E’en though the world doth hate at this hour;
Let’s bask in the sunlight of a love so high 
     That war cannot dim it with all its armed power. 

Come, let us be friends, you and I,
     The world hath her surplus of hatred today; 
She needeth more love, see, she droops with a sigh,
     Where her axis doth slant in the sky far away. 

Come, let us be friends, you and I, 
     And love each other so deep and so well, 
That the world may grow steady and forward fly,
     Lest she wander towards chaos and drop into hell. 

-Sarah Lee Brown Fleming

ABOUT MY NEWSLETTER

New pieces, works in progress, notifications of art shows and other happenings, insights into my artistic process and always, some philosophical ramblings thrown in for free. Unlike myself, my art has no façade, no pretense, no anxiety, no insecurity. My work is always, and completely, reverent, sincere, earnest, transparent. It represents me at my best.