Greetings!

Finally back home!

After almost 6 weeks on the road, first in Italy for the printing of Steve's new book, and then in the Pacific Northwest for Photolucida, followed by a vacation on the Oregon coast and the eastern Oregon desert, we have returned to Sonoita and are trying to catch up and take care of all the obligations/opportunities that we accumulated along the way.

In the Amadeus show at the Tubac Center for the Arts Karen's image, Henry's Barbershop, received an Award of Merit. A photograph of Karen and the juror for the show, Alfred Quiroz. a professor in the University of Arizona School of Art, was on the front page of their newsletter. Karen has since been notified that one of her American Motel images has been accepted into the Arizona Biennial '09 at the Tucson Museum of Art. This is a highly competitive show into which she also had an image accepted in 2007.

Steve has had one of his images of the Haleakula Crater on Maui accepted for a show (Nature's Whispers, Nature's Shouts) at the Vermont Photography Workplace. in Middlebury.

Steve's new book, his first fine art monograph, has now been printed and bound. We hope it is on a boat to the US or will be soon. Working with the printer in order to improve the quality of the reproductions in the book was a very illuminating experience. It began at 7 am every day, before breakfast when the first page was reviewed and corrections made. We then returned to the hotel for breakfast after which we returned to the printer to deal with the second sheet of the day (each sheet contained 3 images or 6 pages of the book). We then stayed at the printer, with a short break for lunch, until 10 each night, making adjustments with the help of the printer operator and the publisher, who also kept the same hours. While the official publication date is September 1, we hope to have our copies available in early July. A website has been created for the book at http://www.earthforms.info/ which we hope will give you a good overview of the book contents. We already have book signings scheduled in Portland, Seattle and soon Houston and Santa Fe. Information on ordering your copy of the book can be found on the book website.

Our experience at Photolucida in Portland was very positive for both of us. We saw both international and domestic reviewers, from as far away as China and as near as Scottsdale. Steve has possibilities for several shows, we both have recommendations for other people and galleries to contact, and Karen will have a virtual exhibit at the Griffin Museum of Photography in the future. The reviewer from the Akron Art Museum posted a note in her blog, including Steve's portfolio as one of 8 that really impressed her. One of the reviewers informed Karen that he had purchased 3 of her prints back in the 1980's and had recently donated them to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.