Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends

Class sketch
acrylic on canvas
14 x 16 inches

Tonight I'm including an image of a fast sketch I did at the Tuesday
night art class. I liked the look of the subject, but only started
liking the painting a few months after that evening. The painting
was drawn in charcoal, and recently I washed most of the drawing
off to discover that I like the painting without the heavy lines.

Birthday cards from my son's students in Korea

At the beginning of the week we received a huge package from
Korea in the mail. Our birthday gifts were inside -- a lovely
video of my son's typical day, slippers for Steven and for me,
like the slippers my son wears at school (super warm and
comfortable), a pretty scarf for me, and a fleece for Steven and
lots of birthday cards drawn by Christopher's six year old students.
I am always both moved and charmed by children's drawings.
Isn't strange that everyone's an artist at 5 or 6 like these
kids, and then poof -- someone waves a critical wand at them
and they lose their power? I hope that never happens to these
children. I have some more cards that I'll post another night. They
are such a treat.

Speaking of children, one of the family traditions I really
like about Christmas is getting my kids, and their close
friends chocolate filled advent calendars. The idea
of a chocolate every day in December seems like one of the
most civilized of Christmas traditions. So -- I have a few, displayed
where we normally set them up against the china hutch in the kitchen.
When Sam comes home near the end of the month he'll probably
eat all of them at once -- and that's fine too.
This week we also have spectacular deep orangey red day lilies
from our favorite flower store.

I'm still in intensive marking mode, and I'm enjoying it.

Have a there's-so-much-to-celebrate day.