Blog

The new year is upon us and, as are many of us, I am looking forward to things getting better and better.  I have joined an online challenge to do 30 paintings in 30 days!  I will be posting them here and they will all be available to purchase.  I plan to do an 8" x 10" painting in oil each day, but I may throw in a few watercolors, and I may get ambitions and do some larger works.  Hope you all will keep track of me and watch the progress of this project.  At the end... hopefully, I will be mounting a show of these paintings, sold ones as well as available work, so stay tuned to find out where to view this show.

I have painted outside 3 times this week, in between rain, got some nice sunny minutes, but alas... 2 crappy paintings, just one decent one... This morning was spectacular with beautiful sky. I don't do many skies, I think this one is a novice's sky, but it has some nice feeling....

I try to go outside at least 3 or 4 days a week for painting, the light is so much better and the subject so much more interesting than working from photos...  This year has been a good year for Plein Air painting in my area.  We started a local area plein air group:  South Texas Plein Air.  If you are in the area of Texas south of Austin and north of Mexico, come join us!  Our Facebook group is open, ask to be a member!

You never know as you begin a painting if it will be a 'keeper' or not...  You might have a sense that the subject is amazing, the light is inspiring, or the composition is working... but will the result be something that fulfills all the requirements of a 'good' painting?  It seems to me that getting my life in order is like starting a painting... it might happen the way I want it to, it might not.  I can establish a routine, organize my studio, finally get to the bottom of piles of papers, but... does that equal a positive and productive life?  Isn't it a lifelong process, getting "in order"?  Don't we have to start hundreds, perhaps thousands, of paintings before we get them to 'work' regularly?

Anyway, I am currently attempting to progress in the process of getting life-things on a regularly 'working' pathway.  My paintings are finding good homes, people I respect are more available to me, and ideas are pouring out of my heart and brain.  Finding time to get them all done has become problematic.  And doing mundane chores seem wasteful of my time.  Dust piles up.  Laundry piles up.  Paintings pile up! 

Life is happening.  I'm just trying to stay in the moment, and enjoy what life brings!