Heading to the Trail and building "reverse shadowboxes"

Heading to the Trail, oil on gessobord, 5x7

I used to live on a street that connected two large city parks. Each park is heavily used by cyclists so the road between them is always busy with groups of bikes moving between them. Sometimes the groups are so big they stopped traffic.  This guy was probably headed to one of the off-road trails that also occupy these parks.  

There are so many cyclist on the road these days. Luckily for these roadsters, Louisville's streets have been put on a road diet, getting a make-over, and bike lanes slowly being installed. It's so hard to capture a good impromptu photo of a cyclist. I was actually snapping (more!) photos of my daughter skateboarding when I saw this guy and snapped him up. Hope he had a good ride!

In other news, I have been painting so much and have produced a nice little body of work. I have had many nice people leave comments or tell me in person how much they are enjoying my paintings. Nothing in the world could make me happier than this feedback! 
A lot of you have asked how you can purchase my work. As of now, I am selling each painting available on the blog for $100, unless marked sold or NFS.  I am happy to ship anywhere in the U.S. for about $10. If interested drop me an email at sojourn6262@gmail.com  I accept paypal, and cash or check locally.  I have also had MANY people ask about a possible show. This I am working on...literally, in the hot sun :-) Because most of my current works are painted on Ampersand archival gessobord (flat panels), I've been brain storming for a good solution to display the paintings if/when a show occurs. That's when, through osmosis, or the idea simply slamming into my brain the other day, I have decided to craft, if you will, a reverse shadow box for my little paintings.  The boxes will be painted a neutral black, adhered to the back of completed paintings, and be ready for display or purchase.

 So here I am, in all my glory, returning to power tools of my college youth.  I once built my canvas stretchers by hand and loved every minute of it. I am sanding the just-split panel that will become these reverse shadow boxes.  More pictures to come of the finished product.