Remember and Inspire.

     Improvement. That is the goal of every artist. At least it should be if we wish to be taken seriously by collectors and galleries. The two paintings here illustrate this. The one with the blue plaid tablecloth was painted when I discovered the painting-a-day movement. You don’t have to look very close to see why I felt the need to improve. The other, “Coffee Or Tea?” was delivered just this last Monday as a silent auction piece for the fundraiser, “High Tea At The Henry.” The difference in skill as you look at both pieces is marked. I spent a little more time on “Coffee Or Tea” of course, but I think that even if I had spent the same amount of time on the other teacup, I would not have achieved much better. I just wasn’t there yet. This kind of growth is very encouraging. It caused me to look back on other daily paintings I did about the same time. I found that there was some merit in each and it made me want to revisit some of those themes and compositions to see if I could improve upon them. Thus I’ve begun a painting blitz of small still life and larger farmland paintings.

It gets better.

I recently took “Coffee Or Tea?” to Village Picture Framing And Gallery  to have its frame resized for the event. While I was there, one of the owners asked if I had any small paintings that I might be willing to consign at the gallery. I’m sure he saw right through my thinly veiled enthusiasm. I came the next day with a few of my old daily paintings in hand. The father- daughter team and I selected six to go into the gallery, just to see what might happen. I am just pleased that they liked my practice pieces and I can’t wait to replace them with newer and better works.