A great day

Me as an angel
by Steven

To tell you the truth I was having trouble getting excited about
Christmas this year. Maybe the whole flooding of the stores
with stuff -- shiny, exotic in the thick of November's attempt
at subtlety thing was what got to me. But today it was brilliant --
white snow lined trees, snow on the ground, blue sky and cold
weather. Josephine and I drove out to the Yorkdale mall after work,
and in the new Crate & Barrel store I got that Christmas feeling.
It was the luminous red I think. I didn't actually want anything.
There was a very Swedish feel, which is cheaper at Ikea (plus you
can get a salmon dinner at Ikea for $20 for two there). But I think it might
have been the store design -- very festive and colourful. Walking around
with Josephine and laughing I felt hopeful. I will miss my son and his
girlfriend like crazy at Christmas, but I started inviting people to
Christmas dinner, and felt better right away.

The presents part is nice. I'm not religious, and school always
goes almost until the day before Christmas. But the real tree
makes the house smell amazing. The pine boughs over the
doors in the living room and on the hutch in the kitchen jazz
the joint up. I like the music, which we only bring out at
that time of year. And after walking through the sparkly
wonderland of Yorkdale with Josephine, I realize that religious
or not, I'm going to enjoy the feeling surrounding the celebration
all over again.

Besides I do believe in angels -- especially human ones.

The image is one Steven took of me as an angel. See if
you can figure out how he did it. We learned the technique
from my photographer son, Christopher.

Have a why-not-enjoy-yourself? day.

Stand up for your brights

Here's a little sketch I did many years ago, probably imitating one of my favorite painters, although I don't know who right away -- maybe Derain. Whoever it was, I like the drawing for its bold use of colour. I've been painting all day today, but can't share the results with you yet because it's a sustained portrait. I think this was the fifth session and it's turning the corner -- becoming a personality, not just a painting. That's always a great feeling -- knowing I will capture a person's essence. It's
not quite there yet, but coming.

Have an essentially lovely night.

The joy of small paintings

I love creating large canvasses, for the
sweep of colour, the amount of paint I
can apply, the complicated subject matter I can portray, and the dramatic impact large paintings can have. Every now and then though it's a pleasure to create small paintings.

This painting was loosely drawn with a
brown Sharpie over a turquoise acrylic
ground. Using a reference I put down
the main concept and then created the feeling of California.

The lemon tree, window boxes and colour
scheme all reminded me of a perfect sunny day in the mountains.

In fact the actual painting is about 5"
square, so I tried to stay very simple.

I've just been at art class, and it's time
for bed.

Have a small and perfect evening.