I am incredibly honored to have been chosen to show my piece, “Lift” at the Oil Painters of America National Exhibition. This piece is very different in subject matter than what I usually do, so I thought you might like to hear the story behind it.

“Lift”
8″x10″
oil on linen

Here is the report on the show from the Steamboat Pilot:

“The Steamboat Art Museum is bringing back the National Exhibition of Oil Painters of America.

“Returning to Steamboat after four years, the exhibition will display more than 230 oil paintings by artists in North America. Also, paintings by Steamboat’s Chula Beauregard and Adam Zabel were selected for this exhibit from over 1,900 entries. All paintings will be for sale.

“The exhibit will be on display June 3 to Aug. 27 with a public reception from 5-8 p.m. June 3. Admission is free.” May 20, 2022

With all of my excitement, and frankly disbelief, I wanted to also acknowledge the source of this piece.

My dear husband, Cactus, has been crazy about airplanes as long as I have been painting (around age 11 for both of us). Cactus has not yet gotten his pilot’s license, but his love of planes is realized through the Remote Control world. He flies RC airplanes of all kinds, and also builds them with balsa wood. We have airplanes hanging from the ceiling and in the attic of our shed. His love of mini-aviation has been transferred to both of our boys, who know all of the terms of engineering, and they often fly the small planes together.

One of his bucket-list destinations is the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. This Living Museum surveys aviation through the 20th Century, and is located in the beautiful Hudson Valley.

During our trip to NYC last fall, we took the train up north to Rhinecliff. We got off at the train station and luckily found a taxi to take us to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. We toured the museum and even got to see the Air Show. They describe the cast this way:

“The stars are the historic airplanes including our 1909 Bleriot, the oldest regularly flying airplane in the Western Hemisphere; the Fokker DR-I Triplane, the most famous fighter of WWI; and a precise replica of the Spirit of St. Louis, which was the first aircraft to fly NY to Paris in 1927.”

The Airshow was fun with villians and heros and many daredevil flying tricks. As an added bonus, my dear friend Dan Adkinson (we served in the Peace Corps together) and his husband Chris joined us. They live in NYC and sometimes take weekend trips in their little car.

The boys getting an in-depth tour from one of the many volunteers at the museum.

Cactus is in his happy place. This is one of the many hangars they feature, filled with historic planes and other artifacts from the history of aviation in America.

Our family in front of the large green that serves as a runway during the Air Show.