Will, day 2

Will, day 1

I'm still working full time, still having trouble finding time to paint.  This can't go on!  This is the start of a small portrait of my sixteen year old son, Will.

second day

What's happened to my attention span?  Two days on a painting and I get bored to death.  Time to start something new!

Pear and Apple Behind Glass

oil on masonite

6.5"x6"

I'm not finished with this, but wanted to post something to cover that melancholy, dull painting from last week.  I love what happens behind glass.  Things are not themselves, and become "something rich and strange". 

Lemon and Glass Under Skylight

oil on masonite

6"x5.5"

Having to work quickly this morning, it was back to square one: large brushes, just a little bit of painting medium, no reworking, little worrying and fussing. The colors in this photograph are a bit more washed out than in the painting.

Study of Rooftops with Chimneys

oil on masonite

3"x 4.5"

I had fun with this one.  It's just a quick study, but I'm feeling more like myself again.

July Landscape, Rooftops and Trees

I'm ready to admit it.  I've been working full time since January!  My previous work schedule involved twenty hours a week, so this has been a major adjustment.  I've spent the last six months concentrating on being a good employee, but also battling a feeling of desperation over not having enough energy (and time!) to paint.  The desperation had begun to turn into a low-key depression, so I've decided that I just have to paint.  If I get exhausted, so what.   I really can't live with myself otherwise (sorry for the drama).

Here's a painting done on a perfect July morning.  I can stand barefoot in the grass and paint, listen to the squirrels chase each other around a nearby tree, and repeat in my head all those things I learned last year- such as, to paint and not worry about whether what I'm doing is good.  To just react to what I find compelling, and struggle to communicate my feelings in paint.   Then it's off to work, tired but happy.