what have I been up to?

It's been a while since I posted last. There's no real reason other than wanting to wait until something really noteworthy happened.

No big news yet, I just wanted to let everyone know what's been going on.

October proved to be a challenging month for us, and for business. I have had a number of potential jobs slip through my fingers for various reasons so the month ended up really slow from a billing standpoint. The encouraging thing is that there are a number of jobs "out there" that I have waiting for approval, so I'm hopeful that they will start solidifying and November will redeem October's shortcomings.

I thought I'd show off some of what has been done since we've been back in Colorado. For those of you who don't know, the business I have started here is Western Ascent

mc2-creative (design by mc2-creative, built by Western Ascent)
Cocoa (designed and built by Western Ascent)
Rudkin Homes (designed and built by Western Ascent)
Kansas Clays & Hunts (designed and built by Western Ascent)
Western Ascent (designed and built by Western Ascent)

I have continued to be involved as a consultant with Studio North working on Addison Public Library's site.

I am in process on one other web site, and hope to start 2 more this week. As mentioned earlier, there are several jobs waiting on various things from the clients' end to solidify.

On a non-business note, I am taking an oil painting class from Rachel Herrera that is going well. Rachel has a great style and is extremely gifted. She's been a patient teacher and her class has enabled me to go from never having painted to being able to create something that I really like.

I actually entered my first painting into a show. I am going to enter another show at the end of the month. I'll have several of my photos for sale as well as several paintings.

I have also been learning how to build custom frames (for fine art) from George Coll at his amazing studio and workshop in Loveland. Over the past month I have spent several weekends going through the process and learning quite a bit. George is a great guy, a gifted painter and an excellent craftsman and it has been a real treat to spend time learning from someone of his caliber.

We've been attending the local Vineyard Church and really enjoying that. We went for the first time 6 weeks ago, and they were starting a series on "The Purpose Driven Life". They had an evening small group that offered childcare at the church, so we started that 6 weeks ago as well. Nancy and I are the only ones in the group with kids, and I'm pretty sure we're the oldest couple there, but it's been great and we've been making friends.

We're doing well. I won't make a habit of posting so infrequently. Thanks for reading!