Work in progress- Memory

Today I work on the floor in the spare room (second studio).

A few sketches and drawings from my design sketchbooks...

Plein air oil sketch at Rockaway Beach.

Wow, what a way to start the day this morning, taking my oils out to the beach for a little work out. We're having incredibly warm weather here on the coast and I certainly wanted to take advantage of it, because tomorrow could very well be a different story entirely.

I'm not doing as much plein air as I'd like and I feel so stale because if it. I was just looking at my pochade box the other day and noticed how new it still looks, a testament of how little work I'm doing outdoors. My box looks like it just came off the shelf, with very little "battle" wounds and scars of color adorning it.

I'm finally getting used to not having a day job, since I closed down my interior painting business, I feel like I've reached some mid-circle of retirement. It was strange at first, but I'm finally getting comfortable devoting my day to studio work and developing my teaching cirriculum. I worked hard for 26 years to get to this place so I'd better damn well enjoy it...

The Wedding Gift (Study)
oil on illustration board
9" x 9"

This raku-fired vase was a wedding gift from Paul (April's college friend) given to us twenty six years ago and it has been a favorite of ours the whole time. This morning I decided to do a two hour study of the vase, it's something I've been meaning to do for, well...twenty six years. Better late than never?