I hope my Christian friends are enjoying a wonderful Christmas day. It was sunny and cold here, and quiet, with students away for the holidays.

Stretched a small (22"x28") canvas today, but when I primed the linen it bent into a potato chip, and warped one of the stretcher bars. Frederix lightweight stretchers are too lightweight!

Here's another portrait I'm working on. I'm working on portraits in preparation for a commission I am pleased to have gotten, and also to get in better shape for paiting in general.

new portrait

It's a new portrait I've been working on. Next I guess I'll work some more on that one I posted a couple of days ago.

Happy Winter Solstice 2008! Here in Indiana we're on Eastern time, but pretty far west, so it's still light at 5:30. Back in Philly, it gets dark at 4:00 this time of year. It's much easier on the Seasonal Affective Disorder out here.

Here's a photo of a painting I am working on. It's got a way to go, but I wanted to indicate on this blog that I am actually doing some work. Three or so other paintings also in progress, will post photos soon.

Everything outside is covered with a thin coat of ice. I hope it's less slippery today so I can go for a walk.

It's been awhile since I have posted anything. I have been spending some time resting, under the weather, getting adjusted. I'm thinking about my widely different, seemingly contradictory impulses, most notably appearing along an axis of Buddhist piety and Hebrew Bible wrath. Anyway it's good to spend some time in bed when necessary, and I'm excited about getting some serious painting back into the mix. I need to be sure to eat enough food, such as CVS honey roasted cashews.



Re-read Tom Wolfe's The Painted Word, a fun and fundamental essay. Listened to Steve Martin's biography of his stand-up career, Born Standing Up, on CD. It's well crafted, like a Rockwell painting, and has a fully-committed feeling I find exemplary.