Monday morning is warm and overcast.

The weekend was very productive. Several works are nearing completion including a painting of Lilly in the surf, a still life, and two or three small sketches of Santorini, the Greek island.

Unfortunately, I still haven't taken time to photograph the new stuff (or some of the old) but this week promises to provide me with enough time to get some digital shots and post them here.

Saturday dawned gray and rainy but still unseasonably warm.

Today is going to be a day for cleaning the studio, rearranging and packing things that need to be moved before remodelling indoors commences in earnest in a week or two, and if time permits a bit of painting.

I worked on two small landscape studies yesterday--one is a view of a church dome and tower on Santorini and the other a small study of a house on the same island. I also worked just a trifle more on the view of Grays Lake that I started last week. I'll take a look at them today and decide what comes next.

It's been a strange winter so far. Say what you want about global warming; it was 54 degrees today and supposed to be almost that warm tomorrow. It feels like March used to.

Progress on the studio remodelling continues, albeit slowly. I'll post a pic or two when there's something to see.

Painting is slow. I did a 6x8 sketch of Gray's Lake yesterday--very loose, very juicy paint without much detail--that I think ain't bad. Beyond that, I'm only in the planning/sketching stage of anything larger. I've done a few sketches of Greek Island subjects and a few still life sketches, but no portraiture. I'm trying to let that bit go for a while.

Sunny today (no snow yesterday) and colder. My studio is about to be packed up and emptied for remodelling. We've been trying to get this done since last summer but design problems, contractor problems, water problems, and weather have combined to stymie any progress until the last couple of weeks. This means that my winter/spring painting schedule is likely to be disrupted, which in turn will affect shows and competitions for the coming year since who knows how much I can get done with the interruption, etc. Meantime, I'm just going to keep painting and thinking and photographing the work. I got disgusted with the painting of Santorini--badly composed and nothing I could do would fix that--so I wiped it all off and left the panel toned a light ochre, waiting for something new to happen. Perhaps tomorrow.

Monday morning, grey and dim with a hint that snow could return. In the next couple of days I'll be photographing several small works to post--some here, some in the online gallery. These will probably all be 6x8 or not much bigger, and represent work during the past fall and winter. Updates are coming...

Much to do this morning. I spent yesterday on two new works--one is Lilly in the surf and the other is a view of the Santorini caldera from the top of one of the villages there. But what I really must do is photograph current and recent work. I did set up the tripod but not the lights because my room is so limited. In the end, I gathered a bunch of 6x8 paintings for the shoot but wasn't happy with the way the first ones came out (I use a Canon Eos digital) and really I need better lighting. Maybe I'll get some done today, since I can't really update this journal and the website without them...

I finally figured out how to post links in the sidebar column. HTML is not my forte, obviously. I put in a link to my web gallery, the Cennini forum, the Online Artists Guild, and a couple of others. For anybody interested in the technical aspects of painting, Cennini is a great place to learn. The Online Artists is an artist-owned site that markets members' works, including mine. Stop in an take a look.

These are a daily series of landscape paintings done a year or more ago. Each began as an exercise in seeing and stating simply. The idea was to be Monet-like in the sense of seeing how the light changed as the winter weather waxed and waned. They're here in reverse order, top to bottom. These are priced singly at $200 each, but I'd sell the entire group of five for $800.
"1/04/04" oil on panel, 16"x12"
"12/28/04" oil on panel, 16"x12"
"12/27/04" oil on panel, 16"x12"
"12/26/04" oil on panel, 16x12"
"12/25/04" oil on panel, 16"x12"

"The Patriot," a 20"x16" oil portrait on canvas (not for sale). This is an example of the kind of portraits I produce on commission. The sitter is a former military pilot.

This one is also 8"x6" and had the same origins--simple object, simple lighting, and as many single strokes as I could manage. "Fancy."

$75 plus shipping.

This is another 8"x6" still life, "Two of a Kind," oil on panel. It's a work like the earlier one--trying to see common objects simply and paint them with minimal strokes.

$75 plus shipping.

"Alone," an 8"x6" still life is an example of a series I've been working through. This one began as an attempt to see a common, everyday object very simply. I wanted to see it clearly and paint it by putting down single strokes of color using a significantly limited palette.

$75 plus shipping. (sold)

Opening Day

Okay, here's the opening day of an artist's online journal (I don't like the word "blog"--it sounds like someone vomiting. Okay, so maybe that's what some are doing...I've no clue).

This site will serve as an occasional place for rumination, thoughts on traditional art, and whatever else pops into my mind. You can buy anything posted here, if you've a mind to, by sending me an email. The smallest works are $75 (6"x8" on panel) and the larger will be priced accordingly. When no price is posted, the work is probably not for sale. But send me a note anyway and I may agree to either sell the painting you see or even make you one like it.