DAILY PAINTING: Lots of cutting today, as you can see. Though I like the idea of making a reusable stencil out of acetate, it's hard on the hands & who can say if the scale will be right for the next painting? So I've cut this out of vellum (much easier!) though I'll regret having to tear it off. Some times creation requires a little loss.

DAILY PAINTING: I slept badly because of a headache & stiff neck, so I went downstairs to the couch. When I woke up this morning, I was looking right at the fabric on the cushion. So I drew the pattern on paper to make a reusable stencil. I found a sheet of acetate (which my daughter had drawn on), so I traced the pattern off in marker & then cut it out (you see my blue, self-healing cutting board). The acetate is hard to photograph, so I colored the stencil using pastels.

DAILY PAINTING: Here's a simple line drawing, done full scale, of the existing male portrait, incorporating some of the abstract symbols that I drew yesterday. This is just a basic composition, and I'm sure it's difficult for you to tell what I intend to do with this, but I hope to transfer this to the canvas tomorrow so you can begin to see layers of color.

DAILY PAINTING: You guessed it--stick drawing again! This is the next step in the portrait series. You might remember that I had been toying with the idea of using text in the portraits. But I've reconsidered that in favor of these abstract symbols. Tomorrow, you'll see how I intend to incorporate some of these symbols into the existing compositions.

SOLD SOLD SOLD!! This painting is on its way to its new home in Colorado!

DAILY PAINTING: I don't think this photo is good enough to let you see the subtleties of today's work, which was to add selected areas of skin tone, mixed a bit warmer with cad orange and cad yellow. The previous layer of paint--by design--had to include more cad red. These strokes create variation & warmth.

DAILY PAINTING: A painting can fight you tooth and nail one day and then be sweet as a lamb the next. Art is strange that way. My goal today was to get a layer of paint across the whole canvas, so that she begins to approach the degree of finish on the male portrait. Then I can finish them both simultaneously.

DAILY PAINTING: Now that I finished the commissioned painting, I wanted to jump back into the portrait series. And though the male portrait is not completed, I wanted to get the female portrait done to the same level of completion as is his. This painting fought me all day--some days are like that in the studio! Maybe tomorrow will be better!

DAILY PAINTING: SOLD SOLD SOLD!! Here's the final version of the painting you've been following. The client loves it, and it was packed and mailed on Tuesday.

DAILY PAINTING: Lots more work done today, subtle stuff. I like the adjustments made & have to let that paint dry so that I can see whether anything else needs to be done tomorrow. The light was failing when I took this photo, which doesn't really do justice to the painting. I'm actually very pleased. Once I look at it with a fresh eye tomorrow, I'll send a proof to my client. If they're pleased, then I'll have it packed and shipped on Monday to arrive on time for my clie