This painting is going extremely well and I'm so happy that I restarted and am using my own style.  I also set up my palette of colors based on the colors I like using.  I don't like having a very complicated palette with too many colors because it makes painting feel like a chore.  Painting should be fun (most of the time).  Now I need to let this painting dry so I can oil out and paint again.
  Here's my current color palette:
-Silver White
-Naples Yellow
-Cadmium Yellow Light
-Chrome Yellow Deep
-Yellow Ochre
-Vermillion
-Chinese Vermillion
-Alizarin Crimson
-Brun Rouge
-Burnt Sienna
-Emerald Green (Veronese)
-Viridian
-Cobalt Blue
-Ultramarine Blue
-Cobalt Violet
-Raw Umber
-Burnt Umber
-Van Dyke Brown
-Ivory Black

  Just had a sudden realization that I was "counting the strokes" with my recent commission.  I was focusing on technique rather than just trying to paint.  As a result of this, I'm going back to the way I used to paint early on in my career.  My own technique has developed out of just purely wanting to paint; not thinking too much about the "how".
 Below, are two underpaintings that are about 10 years apart.  The one on the left is a self portrait from around 2010 and the one on the right is my new portrait commission that I restarted tonight.  I'm going back to myself and my own way of doing things.

  Really excited to be underway on my first commissioned portrait of 2019.  It's a memorial portrait so I'm doing the best to capture a spirit of life and energy in the portrait.  Really inspired by John Singer Sargent's portrait of Mr. and Mrs. John White Field.  The size is 24" X 20", which is nice because it's not too small; I don't like painting small.  Stay tuned to see it progress!

  Two new sketches as we get ready for a north east snow storm.  The one sketch is of a cat who was enjoying a drink today from our birdbath and the other is a furniture study of a kitchen chair.  I also recently went down to New Brunswick to pick up my watercolors that were in an exhibition.  I've hung two of them up to enjoy and remind myself of summer days.
  My brother's coming back home today to stay for the three day weekend.  I haven't seen him since he took a Christmas vacation with his girlfriend to Hawaii.  He's bringing me back some cool stuff like a really nice ukulele and some Hawaiian shirts.  Hawaii would be really nice right about now...stay safe in the storm everyone.