It's a small world after all.

It has been a while since my last post. First of all, here is one of my recent paintings. It measures 18 in. by 24 in. I started it in December and finally finished it last month. I wasn't working on it the whole time. I just had several long breaks when it wasn't possible to comfortably paint. I love how it looks on my wall, but I would be willing to sell it for the right price.

Since I completed this painting, I've been busy with several others. I did another space themed painting and then some small still life works while attempting to learn Helen Van Wyk's color recipes using two of her books. I love watching her videos, and I'm expecting one in the mail where she demonstrates a portrait.

I just finished reading Alla Prima by Richard Schmid. It has to be one of the best art instruction books I have ever read. I highly recommend it. Right now I'm working on Portraits from Life in 29 Steps by John Howard Sanden. So far, so good. Once I finish reading it and doing the sample portraits, I hope to do an in depth post on it.

Now a word on materials. I bought a tube of Blick Artists' Oil Color, Chromium Oxide Green to be exact. This is one of their professional grade oil paints. I was surprised at how thick this paint is. At first when I squeezed the tube, nothing came out. I thought it was blocked, but it wasn't. It just required a firm hand. This is quite a contrast to most of my other oil colors, especially the student grade paints and water soluble colors. I believe that at some point I'm going to zero in on one or two brands of professional grade colors for the sake of consistency.