March has arrived with warmer temperatures and a growing restlessness for spring. I don’t know about you, but I am looking forward to the warmer weather when I can get out with my dogs and my camera and take some nice long walks. If I’m lucky, I’ll also take some great reference photos as I go along. I confess – I don’t have anything new to enter in this year’s chapter show. I have barely touched my colored pencils in the last few months.

Enough about me – I honestly hope that all of you have something to enter. I love seeing the work of other colored pencil artists and the Arts Center is a super venue.

I will be adding all the show details and the entry form to the website in the next few days. I am still tweaking the site design but I now have the page templates I need to I am not building each page from scratch. As I have been learning the ins and outs of WordPress and building the chapter’s very own theme, I am discovering all sorts of cool things I can do with the site. Here are some of the features you will be seeing over the next few months:

• A fully responsive website that looks good on your phone, computer, or tablet.
• The ability to register and pay for workshops online as well as to renew your chapter membership.
• A contact form you can use to:
  • Send the webmaster ideas or information you would like to see on the site.
  • Request information about the chapter.
  • Pass along announcements about yourself and your work, shows and competitions you think we should list on the site, and suggestions about programs and workshops.
• A “Members’ Only” area on the site where you can view an online membership roster and any other information that is for members’ eyes only.

 You will see there is already a page for a member gallery. The goal is to provide every member with a place to showcase up to ten images of colored pencil work.

To end this writing session and get the rest of this particular page finished, I am inserting a simple contact form you can use to submit comments or ask questions related to the website. Please make use of this feature to let me know if you like what I am doing with the site and to provide constructive criticism.

Thank-you! Keep the pencils sharp and the colors flowing.