This is how it all began...

I was taking my second painting class in eight years and totally lost on what to paint, so I pulled out a study done a few years back in advanced drawing. Just painting the figure left a lot of space, so I had to fill it with something... why not improvise?

And so my steady decline into painting began. From that one drawing of Anna (Ana?) I discovered I could do my funky drawing in paint as well. My professors hated it, saying it was dated and derivative, but it was still a springboard into locking onto and refining my own painting voice.

In all other media, I am slow and deliberate worker. I work long hours and dance dangerously close to the edge of disaster with those things. After all, I *never* erase a mark once I make it in drawing - not that I had an eraser that *could* erase it. Painting, however, was something forgiving. Don't like a part, PAINT OVER IT! It was also something I could do relatively quickly. The more I paint, the faster I get. The more I improvise, the more confident I become in my strokes. I'm starting to look at painting as something I DO, not as something I just happen to be doing NOW. Fear my wrath, people, because nothing can stop me now!

Oh yeah, MONEY! Turns out my recent productivity streak means I am constantly running out of supplies. I have two of the giant canvasses left, which means two DC visits until I have to fall back to smaller, more affordable formats. I chew through paint at an alarming rate, and I have to order more the day after I open the box with my latest paint order. If I don't sell anything at the current show I'm in, I'm going to have one costly HOBBY on my hands.

While the latest order of supplies *should* keep me set for a nice long time, it's a reminder that I've got to get more aggressive with showing. This is hard to do when you're constantly shuffling around! I've been telling myself there will be plenty of time to do all the gallery whoring once life settles down - and it's best to use this odd stretch of time to get as much work done as possible so I have ample material to whore when the time comes - but it's very easy to keep sliding this date father and father back. I don't see any chance in the near future, but these nagging thoughts can only stew for so long before action is forced. Step one: Updating the damn fine art website with recent material! Uh... I'll get to that LATER.