Diverging Paths

My lack of posting lately has certainly not reflected my level of productivity. At the moment, there are several projects in the works... some painted in tight detail... some in large "painterly" brush strokes... none near completion... but all showing a great deal of promise.

The image above is the top half of a relatively large painting I've been working on for more than a month. Of course, most of that time has been spent drawing, composing, and researching. Actual easel time... about 6 days. Eventually, there will be sun dappled black bears under this colorful canopy of leaves.

I've also had the chance to paint an attractive young lady. Many thanks to my friend, Mikala, who was willing to work with me this spring. The resulting images are simply amazing and will provide reference for several future works. The painting shown here is the foundation work for a piece I hope to finish soon. The more I look, the more I think I should leave it alone... but that's not gonna happen. I'll be experimenting with a good deal of spring color... stay tuned.

Another Sign of Spring

The first morel mushrooms of the season are always so hard to find. They are so tiny and it seems to take a good deal of concentration to finally get your eyes adjusted to looking for them. Once the first one is found, they seem to come a bit easier... but still far from easy. I managed to gather 15 of the delectable little morsels this afternoon... and it took almost 2 hours. As I was working my way out of the forest, a misting rain began to fall. The next few days should yield a bounty of mushrooms. We shall see.

Dinner this evening:

• Charcoal grilled pork tenderloin


• Baked potato


• Steamed asparagus (fresh from Dad's garden)
  
• Morel mushrooms sauteed with garlic

Life is good.