Sunday night

It's been a great day, but I still have painting to do.
Tomorrow -- the day before Canada Day, should
be a day off, but I have quite a bit of work to get
photographed for a show, so I'm just doing some
touch ups tonight.

I remember the first time I had a show with
Jennifer Hinrichs, I was shocked at how picky
we had to be about the details. Most of the time
I don't frame my work anymore, which is definitely
one of the great advantages of painting on stretched canvas.
But when we were framing all the time, it was an
agony keeping the glass clean, making sure no dust was sitting
on the mat. The tiniest speck of dust could ruin the look
of a watercolour.

I'm making a few changes to one of my big works, a painting
of my son's girlfriend Megan. The painting belongs
to Megan and Christopher, but it's huge so they couldn't
take it to Korea. I'll give you her eyes tonight, and maybe
the whole thing tomorrow. I know the picture is a bit
blurry. Forgive me,

Have a dreaming-in-blurry-colour evening.

Leaving room to breathe

It's time for bed now. Here's one of the
first portraits I did in acrylic. I love
the energy, which comes from my dear
friend Susan, who is a vibrant, brilliant
and kind person. I like the fact that she
looks like she wants to jump out of the
chair and rush off somewhere.

In 2004 when this was done I got so
excited about my new lease on life
in art, as a painter in acrylics,
after 10 years doing watercolour,
that I entered every show imaginable.
It was a great learning experience,
but I found out that if I don't have
the energy to be wildly enthusiastic
about everything I'm doing, I'm probably
overdoing it and need to cut back.

Artists, like everyone else need to find a balance between, work, life
family, friends, love, laughter, reading, sleeping, eating. Most of us
have to do other work to support our art habit, even if paintings
are selling well. So... I learned to pick and choose. I learned to
make enjoying everything I do my number one priority. Of
course that's not always possible, but it's a great goal.

There are hundreds of sites on the net that give you relaxation
techniques. Here's one:

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/ART00521

Have a time-to-breathe-freely day.