Just back from NYC

Did you hear that ((whoosh)) sound?

That's the sound of this past week zipping away in my rear view mirrow. Wow, what a busy time!

I kicked off last week with a phone interview of John Quigley, former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. He now works as a consultant for PennFuture, a statewide environmental advocacy organization based in Harrisburg.

I'm writing a profile about Mr. Quigley for an English class that I'm taking as an adult continuing education student at Penn State this spring. He was gracious enough to give me almost an hour of his time and I sincerely appreciate it.

As an artist who enjoys the beautiful scenery and pristine state parks of Pennsylvania, I am very concerned about the Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling now gaining momentum throughout our state. This industrial activity occurs on Pennsylvania's state forest lands as well as areas bordering and beneath our state parks.

Forecasts for massive growth combined with recent news accounts about environmental violations, risks associated with toxic frack wastewater, and the lack of a state severance tax for this industry threaten to affect the quality of life of Pennsylvania residents for generations to come.

I am so concerned about this topic that in the coming weeks you will see me add a special section to my web site, SarahPollock.com, to share information about hydraulic fracturing for natural gas within Pennsylvania.

Stay tuned.

After my interview, I spent a couple of days in Pittsburgh helping to take care of the world's cutest niece and nephew (No, I am NOT biased). We weathered a hail storm and successfully avoided a tornado while building many pillow forts in the house.

Then it was off to New York City, where my husband gave a talk at the Graduate School of Business at Fordham University. Naturally, I had to tag along to gather some source material for new cityscapes.

Columbus Night 20" x 30" Original pastel.

Pictured here, you see a new piece fresh off of my easel entitled Columbus Night. As the title implies, this was in midtown Manhattan, just off of Columbus Circle.

Finally, this week I will kick off a new class about artistic composition for 2D artists at the Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania. It should be a fun refresher for me and I look forward to incorporating some old fundamentals into my new pieces in the coming weeks.