Bearing All Seasons ~ Monthly Bear Hug! February 2004 Thank you so much for the wonderful response to my new "Paws On The Patio" book!  It has been fun seeing it take off!  Can you believe it is almost the end of February?   It has been a wonderful busy couple of months. Thank you for your many kind emails!  I will be sharing some of them in the "Honey Pot" section of my newsletter.   We are starting to add Americana paints, Loew Cornell brushes, and other supplies to the website.  We will continue adding more items as well.  It has been a fun project!  Before long you will be able to buy  everything you need in one place for your "Bearing All Seasons" projects!  I hope that these products in our store will benefit you.  We will carry the products that I use myself, so you will see all of my favorites! The Decorative Painting Convention is at the Tropicana in Las Vegas This week (February 25 - 28).  I wasn't able to go this year, but you can find my designs there!  My good friends, LaDene and Bob who own Paint Racks Etc. were able to take my books and pattern packets along with painted samples of my newest designs. They are in booth #1114      In this issue: What's "beary" new in our neck of the woods! "Beary" helpful hints!  The Honey Pot: "Beary" special friends! Want to Resell Our Books and Patterns? What's "beary" new in our neck of the woods! Bearing It All "Four" Seasons!  (Overall size is about 14" t x 21" w) A NEW pattern packet that will surely be a hit!  I finally turned my logo into a fun, dimensional, wood piece that last through the year!  The photograpy was done with four sets of blocks, so that you can see all of the letters for every season.  But you will need just one set of blocks that turn with each season!  The pre-cut wood kits will be available soon.  Visit our catalog   "Beary" Helpful Hints: I have been asked many times how I make such fine pinstripe lines on my designs, and what is a good brush for this technique?    My favorite liner brush is the Loew Cornell JS #1 liner.  It isn't too long or too short and has enough bristles to hold some paint and yet has a fine point for thin lines that flow further.  A trick to getting your paint to flow further and smoother is to thin your paint to an ink consistency, rolling your brush in the paint and pulling back, which keeps the tip of the brush to a point.  When applying your lines, use the little hair on the tip of your brush to paint with.  Sounds silly, but I think it works when your mind is thinking that! A call for your helpful hints!  I would love it if you would email me with any "beary" helpful hints that you wouldn't mind sharing with my readers in future additions of "The Monthly Bear Hug" that have helped you in your painting and creating adventures! The Honey Pot ~ Calling all "beary" special friends! I have received so many kind emails from so many of you!  I thought it would be fun to share you with all of my friends!  Here are just a couple!  Hey...maybe you will see your name sometime! Mary in Allen, TX Colleen, I just love all your work so much and am very excited that I will be able to buy all my supplies from your site soon.  I learned to do this kind of painting in South Africa when we lived there for four years.  Can't wait to get that big patio bear!  I know my friends in South Africa will be so excited about it too! Lynda in Poplar Grove, IL I received my order today with your new book "Paws On The Patio All Through The Year", "Spring Garden"  and "Happy Summer" pattern packets.  I am just delighted with them.  Can't wait to start working on them.  I also want to tell you how much enjoyment I have had from making your designs.  I hope you have many more great things yet to come as I enjoy painting the bears very much.  I have 2 granddaughters that are 4 and 3 and they love taking turns changing the outfits for the different holidays.  (Lynda sent a picture of one of her finished bears!  It looks wonderful!) I would like to spotlight you in my "Honey Pot"!  Just email me or you could even send a snapshot of you doing what you love and a short paragraph on why you love to paint, and maybe how it enriches your life.  Anything that you feel you would like to share with us would be wonderful!  It would make me "beary" happy to hear from you!  You are my honey pot!  Want to Resell Our Books and Patterns? To learn more about reselling our books and patterns, please send e-mail to:reseller@bearingallseasons.com Sincerely, Colleen Parry Bearing All Seasons, Inc. E-mail:colleenparry@bearingallseasons.com Web:www.bearingallseasons.com Phone/fax: 801-768-8278 Copyright 2002-2004, Bearing All Seasons, Inc.