Today in the Studio

  listening to Marvin Gaye & Al Green + painting in a sunny studio =

A Perfect Day!

Well, as perfect as they come in my world.

Despite fighting a cold (I started getting a sore throat last night), I got into the studio around 10 this morning. One of the advantages of working in a home studio is that it's a lot easier to go to work when you're sick AND you can work in your jammies. It worked for me today.

I put some tunes on and went to work. I pulled out some canvases that I had started working on earlier in the month. They are all part of an abstract series with a predominantly gray palette.

I am trying to get as much work as possible done on this series this winter. One thing I have learned about my painting habits is that my palette of colors changes with the seasons. When the seasons change, I instinctively shift the colors I work with. During winter months, I like working in grays. Payne's Gray is one of my favorite colors...it has wonderful bluish tones.

The paintings I worked on today included two 30x10's and two 20x20's. The previous work I had done on these paintings included laying down some base color and texture. Here is where I started today:

The top photo is pretty much the finished product. I like the layering of paint on top of texture (detail below).

I painted till the afternoon light was starting to fade--over 5 hours of painting.

It was an awesome day.