Dollars to Donuts

Its easier to raise a baby than to raise the dead.
-Unknown

FYI, I didn't paint these ;) But I did paint today. I am finished with my ode to Russian vodka. It was a struggle to the end. Now I know how the Germans felt. I am not happy with it. After I put varnish on it, I will take another picture for the blog and will give it away to the first person who leaves a comment with the correct brand of vodka depicted.
I am excited about my newest painting which is just emerging. It is constructed after the picture above. I tend to enjoy the opening moves, fumble my way through the middle, and struggle with the end game. God is in the details though people. I tried to end another painting that has been sitting unfinished for years in the studio but I was thrashing wildly and not succeeding with my vision so I stopped for the day.

I learned some valuable lessons today. It is hard to paint backlit tall beach grass convincingly. You can correct mistakes in oil. At one point I thought I'd totally screwed up Russian Lullaby, and was about to go Jackson Pollock on it, but I took a deep breath and tried to fix it, and did. Finally, junk mail is a useful tool.