After a busy autumn, life has quieted down after the delivery of sixteen small oil paintings: two to the Salmagundi Club in New York City, seven to American Painting Fine Art, NY, and seven to American Painting Fine Art, DC.

The American Painting Fine Art galleries are having their annual "Small Treasures" Exhibition November 23 to December 30, with opening receptions at both locations on December 1 from 5 to 7 pm. I will be attending the reception in DC.

The Salmagundi Club is holding its annual Thumb Box exhibition from December 3 to January 4 with an opening reception on December 7 from 6 to 8 pm. I will not be there.

In January the Washington Society of Landscape Painters, of which I am president, will hold its annual exhibiton at the Prince Georges Community College in Largo, MD in their Marlboro Gallery. The show runs from January 14 to February 7, with an opening reception on January 25th from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. with an alternate snow date of February 1. This show, entitled "Sunday Scenes," will be paintings from or inspired by the WSLP Sunday paintouts held every month. I expect to have two paintings there and plan to attend the reception.

I am very honored to once again have my work selected by the US Department of State for its Art in Embassies Program. The new US ambassador to the Slovak Republic has chosen three of my paintings for his residence while there. He went to the Naval Academy and chose two Paint Annapolis scenes and another similar one. These paintings will be on loan for at least a year or maybe two. Previously, I have had paintings lent to the ambassador's residence at the Vatican and at the Turkish ambassador's residence in Ankarra.

I continue to work on my step-by-step "blog painting," which I started the first of September. It is going slowly, but the end is in sight. You may find it at http://barbaranuss.blogspot.com/.

Other recent activities include judging the art at the Maryland State Fair, judging the Washington Watercolor Exhibition currently at Strathmore Hall in Bethesda, and I sat on a panel of three jurists to judge the applicants for the one-person shows at the Art League at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria VA. I have also recently given a demonstration and talk at the Art League of Germantown (MD) and did a critique for the members of the Laurel (MD) Art Guild. I am scheduled to do the same for the Senior Artists Alliance in Bethesda, MD in March. In January I will be judging the Baltimore Watercolor Society Show at Glenview Mansion in Rockville (MD).>br>

Please see the calendar page on my website www.barbaranuss.com for details of the exhibitions.