The start of a new year always brings us all to a point where we want to improve. For me, this year is all about learning and growing. The past couple of years has all been about painting, and shows - shows - shows. I am tired. I am tired of lugging around my poor paintings around, setting up, taking down, and smiling. A great deal of us painters have a hard time being "public" and I am no exception. I needed to slow down. 

   That said, it has taken everything I have to not click the 'apply' button on all the shows coming up. There is the thrill of being accepted. The validation that yes, I can paint! But the cost physically, financially, and emotionally comes back to mind and I have been able to hold off. 

   To start the year, I am taking a class with Adrian Martinez. It is so nice to sit and concentrate on ONE thing for a couple hours. I hope to glean some good habits and knowledge from Adrian, who is a master painter. I also wanted to finish up a couple of paintings that have been patiently waiting for some attention. First up is an odd one. You need some backstory for this as it is not anywhere near how I usually paint.

the original painting

   Last March I was down visiting my sister Karen in North Carolina. We all love to poke around antique stores and had found a really good one in Richmond (near one of my other sister's house). Karen spied a painting she really liked but was hesitant to buy it for a couple of reasons. I offered to paint a copy of it for her myself to suit her needs. This is NOT something I would normally offer but this was an antique, the artist long dead, I wasn't going to claim it was mine, and it wasn't going on public sale. I knew I would change a few things also. Honestly I felt it was a fake done recently by looking at the canvas and how fresh the paint colors were. Anyway I took a quick snapshot and the journey began. Artists frequently will copy a master's work to learn how they did things. This is common and I went about it in that manner. First thing I did was try and find this artist on the internet. No luck. Next was to try and figure out what area he was painting. I finally narrowed it down to the Champagne River in Ardennes France. The tag on the original painting said "Impressionist Painting by John Collier, ?something? de Champagne, French Impressionist, Oil on Canvas" 

   From there I gathered a few photo references and sat down to figure out what palette he had used. Then I started a smaller test painting. This is the one I didn't finish. Once I figured out how he had painted what he had, I went ahead to the bigger painting (48"x36"). I also had some fabric samples from Karen to try and match up with. I finished it up and got it down to her and she had it framed and we were all happy. She did ask me why I didn't sign it. I can't since it isn't really my painting. I did come up with a compromise. I would put his name on the front with an explanation on the back. 

my final copy of the painting

Now comes January and I have this sad orphaned, half-done painting staring at me. Let me say that starting to paint up again after a grueling year of shows and holidays is really hard. I know in my heart I love painting but my body says that its still time to rest. It isn't, so I make myself get up and get moving down to the studio. And here is the final painting that is all truly mine. And for sale. And yes, it I will sign this one.

My finished original painting.