The Orange County Artists Guild is a non-profit organization seeking to increase the visibility and recognition of area artists and crafts people.

Four years ago, I was gifted large boxes of French Tinfix dyes. I knew that before I used these rare, no longer produced dyes I must ask innumerable questions on Facebook International’s Silk Painters site. A Master Silk Painter started to answer my questions about many different topics: bases, printing on silk, different techniques, and how to sew rolled edges.. In 3 years of weekly chats, the man I was learning from has become a friend who helps me resolve many current project difficulties, as well as how I can correct errant mistakes. It can be quite a complicated process.…

Years ago, the phone rang and our younger son brought it to me saying, "Dad, there’s a man here who wants to speak to David Stickel." I took it and said, "Well, you got’em. This is David Stickel." He responded, "Ahh…but are you the right, David Stickel?" He explained that he had seen my photo and name many years earlier in a Louisiana Christian magazine. But a typo in the caption said I was from South Carolina, so he had not been able to locate me. In the photo my face isn't seen because I'm looking down at a precious,…

A name from the distant past arrives in an email, asking, “Does this look familiar?” Sent within the message is a photograph from Lawry Sager. We had met in Madrid, New Mexico, circa 1980 and lost touch. The photo shows an unfinished wall with several pieces of art decorating it. One being a small pastel, which I had traded Lawry for his series of B&W postcards. Back east forty-three years ago, my friends and family received his moody images from me in actual mail. Landscape, pastel, near Madrid, NM In his email Lawry wonders if this time he has found…