Well, really I've only been out of painting class for a couple of weeks...but I really couldn't get into a rhythm this past term and consequently, did not finish a damn thing in class.

The last two or three days, though, have been quite productive. My big (30x30") Calla Lily is actually starting to look like a calla lily! That one only has a couple more tweaks that I need to wait until it's more touch-dry to do. My portrait of Simon is **this close** to being done (I've been working on it for a year now). I thought I was pretty well done before supper time. I signed it and put it in the drying rack (I may oil it out just to give it a sheen). Then I looked at the real Simon's beautiful face and realised...I still have to put in the eye whiskers. D'oh!

I've got another canvas that I had put away for another time...it's a painting of a field of anemonies in Golden Gate Park. I really messed up the tree on the left side of the painting but am slowly fixing it (she says...). Anyway, I went ahead and stuck in the anemonies this evening, as well a some daisies and grasses and it's looking much better.

There are really only three or four more canvases I'm still dealing with. A red pepper that I keep messing up, another calla lily, a sunflower and a sunken rowboat. I plan on working those out tomorrow.

Note to self: Those big cans of turpenoid may be a good value...except when you go to pour some in a jar. It's NOT a value when it sloshes all over the place! Oy...that was about 40 minutes of cleanup I hadn't planned on and that was before I even started painting!

Other than the cleaning up bit (which takes forever with oil paints), I'm really enjoying painting right now. And I'm actually figuring out how to solve a lot of the problems I got myself into in my earlier efforts.

Of course, once I get these canvases finished (and waiting for a varnish in six months time), I've got a stack of blank canvases just waiting for something...and a big roll of untreated canvas stashed in the closet.

I'd better get busy!