Well tonight is the big night.  I'm ready and rarin' to go.  That is a good old southern expression.  One that I had not used in a long time. 
As I've put this exhibit together, I've been reminded of my roots and how much that affects who I am and what I do. 
I am told quite often that I must have lived in another time period due to my subject matter and style of painting.   I don't really believe in that stuff, but I do believe that we are a sum of the parts from whence we came. 
All of my family, both maternal and paternal, settled in south east Virginia and east Tennessee dating back to the early 1700s.  Stories have been handed down generation to generation.  Family has always been important.  Not just immediate family, but the extended family of distant relatives and community. 
That closeness of family and friends is rapidly disappearing, just as the farm scenes and old dwellings are falling waste to the developers bull dozers. 
I long for the simple times, but look forward to progress. 
As I say in my artist statement, I live in the present, hope for the future and learn from the past. 
Organizing this exhibit has taught me a lot about myself and my art.  I hope it is successful.  Success will be if it brings joy to others and  few dollars in the pocketbook would make it successful too. :-o)

The painting shown is "Days Gone Bye".