I have enjoyed my escape from the studio. It was not a "vacation" in any form, but an escape none the less. I don't think my family or I could survive a vacation without some form of art related aspect to it. We always seem to have the need to paint or photograph something. :) Getting away for a while helped me to study my existing body of work and painting process. I have some fresh ideas for my painting approach that I am very excited about. I hope to implement these in at least a portion of my new paintings.

I enjoyed meeting so many new people at the Easton Waterfowl Festival. Being on the east coast has also been a wonderful area to gather waterfowl and other references for new paintings. The weather was a bit chilly during one photo shoot in particular -- especially the cool breeze near lake areas. Some of us were a bit numb & tingling by the end of it all, but wouldn't trade the experiences for anything. We've gathered thousands of new reference photographs for creating new paintings. I've just started a new painting from some of these references (while traveling). I will share an image of it with you after I get a little farther on it.

One of the reasons I've added this journal to my online studio is to, in a way, meet more of you. I realize that I will likely never be able to actually meet many of my online studio visitors, but I hope this will help you to share in some of what I experience -- for those who are interested anyway.

"There are no speed limits in the pursuit of excellence" -- Unknown