Breakfast View: Palm Trees and Rock Wall Why does the ocean call to us when we are in need of rest and refreshment?   I'm not sure- maybe the fact that we are 60% water ourselves attracts us to these massive, powerful, ever-moving, life filled waters. All I know is that when I am around large bodies of water I take way too many pictures in the hope that one of them might turn into a soul-stirring watercolor. Oh, there is that water theme again!   Anyhow, I just returned from a great vacation. I hope that you have one in the planning stages, as both the memories and the anticipation help to wash off the dust and grime of everyday living.  The 5x7 inch painting above has just been posted on my newly reorganized website. The art is now sorted by medium instead of topic and there are two archives, one dedicated completely to digital fine art, as it is always available.   It is risky, but in the other archive I chose to retain most of my previously posted acrylics and watercolors even though they will not all always be available. Thanks for this concept go out to collector Shirley T. who saw a sunflower on my new art alerts, but was not the first person to want to take it home. She commissioned a larger painting with a similar theme that I am working on now. I love doing commissions. Shirley's process began with me making three 4x6 sketches of different compositions so she could choose her favorite and give any other desired input. She chose the first composition, titled "no. 2".   A Tangle of Sunflowers no 2 4x6 A Tangle of Sunflowers No. 1 4x6 A Tangle of Sunflowers No. 3 4x6 Do you have a favorite vacation spot? I want to hear about it so that I can start dreaming about potential future vacations.   Nan P.S. How about a favorite vacation photo that you might want to commission into a painting as a gift (or for your very deserving self)? Ask me for options in size, medium, cost and schedule.

I get asked that a lot.     I don't mind being asked. People ask lots of questions when they are told you are an artist. They are usually trying to figure out where you fall on the artistic talent scale between their 5 year old who is good with crayons and Michaelangelo.   Painting every day would be a sign of how important creativity is in the life of the artist and everyone knows that it is a much more polite question than "How much money do you make with your art?"   Anyhow, I totally agree that a daily painting practice indicates the priority of creativity in a person's life. I would even go so far as to say that it would be good for EVERYONE'S mental health to do something creative every day.   But am I there yet? No. I come close and I do post on Facebook and Instagram 99.9% of the days, but I keep a stash of small unpublished watercolors on hand in case life gets crazy and I am unable to create something new.   That is what happened in the past few weeks, when my father-in-law Werner (shown with his grandson in the unfinished digital portrait above) went into a sudden decline at age 99 and went home to heaven. Doyle and I were on an emotional rollercoaster the whole time. We just could not imagine that a man who had been struck by lightening, gored by a bull, bitten by a rabid goat, trampled by cattle and had many other Wild West adventures could ever come to the end of his days here.  Anyhow, my art-related point is that I am proud to say that, thanks to digital painting technology, I was able to paint a little bit on this portrait every day but one! Creativity is both a comfort and a way to eat up the long hours when life moves in slow motion.  I pray that the next time hard times come to you, you will give yourself permission to invest time in whatever your creative medium may be: a traditional art form, cooking, interior design, gardening, woodwork, cement, making old things new, music, basket weaving, sewing, or whatever.