Man, it is really easy to get distracted.  Just looking at my phone can lead to a whole morning, afternoon or evening down the tubes.  How many days am I willing to let sail by me without engaging and accomplishing what I want to accomplish?  I've hit a wall with the constant checking on things, emails, apps, etc.  I took a step forwards today by deleting my email app on my phone.  Even after I deleted the app, I instinctively tapped the spot where it used to be!  That seems like a borderline addiction or something to me.  I'll check my email once a day on my computer, but that's all.
  There's enough hours in the day, but how many of them do I fritter away?  What excuses am I making that stop me?  There's no one actively stopping me from doing any of the things I want to do.  If I want to go paint en plein air tomorrow, I can, but what excuses will I make?  As my 20's are slowly drawing to a close, I'm becoming frightfully aware of how precious time is.  I don't want to let the beautiful moments of the day disappear into a smartphone, computer, tv, etc.
  I need to be hard on myself.  There's a lot of things I want to do and making lists of them doesn't help; it requires actually doing them with a level of focus and presence.  Many of these lessons I learned on my bootcamp last weekend (or was that two weekends ago? 😳)  I still need to write a review about that whole experience, but you can check out Infinite Man Summit to learn more about truly becoming your best self.
  For me, the good stuff is the real stuff.  Spending time with my mom, skateboarding, reading, writing in my journal, petting my dog, riding my motorcycle, having a beer with my friends, painting from life, etc.  That's what makes me happy.  Grrr, it's tough, but at least it's simple.

  I think I'm about done with this current commission and I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  I'm going to look over it one last time, but I'm happy with the way it looks.  I was really inspired by Velazquez for this portrait and worked mostly wet-in-wet to finish it part by part.  
​  I've been developing my recent alla prima painting ideas and I'm toying with the idea of writing a short ebook.  This is a new idea, but it's something that I would love to do.  As readers of my blog will know, I'm a huge fan of John Singer Sargent, Joaquin Sorolla and the original godfather of it all, Diego Velazquez.  I was fortunate to travel to Madrid last year where I absorbed a lot of information about these amazing painters.  For the book, I would inject a lot of my own ideas, but it would also contain a lot of information about alla prima painters of the past.  
  Have a great weekend everyone!

  First thing I want to start off with is that I had a super transformative weekend that I will share more information about very soon!  It really requires its own blog post so stay tuned for that.
  With all these good feelings, I started day 1 of painting a portrait commission, which is quite a portrait to undertake.  It's a portrait of 4 very regal looking dogs which is the most dogs I've painted in a single painting; I sort of feel like I'm painting The Night Watch of dogs haha.  (Of course I'm joking with that).  So I've spent some solid time planning it out and sketching it and I feel very good about its beginning.
 I've always felt that the painters I admire the most were the most direct painters.  There's no "magic" or smoke and mirrors of technique to rely on.  It's just straight there, nothing else.  Maybe I've reached this point because I have indeed tried many layered techniques of painting.  But the problem always was that I felt like I was paying more attention to the  technique than the subject matter.
​  The technique is merely a way to convey your image and, for me, I want the viewer to feel the direct presence and realism of these dogs or whatever I'm painting.  I know there's an infinite number of paths to take which can make it confusing, but I think the best way to paint is just be completely in the moment and almost listen for guidance.  Think of the guidance coming from something beyond yourself.  Listen for the muse.
 Have  great week everyone.

  I just did a new painting of a candlestick, very much inspired by a painting that I love called Candelabra with Roses by John Singer Sargent. The amount of beauty that Sargent was able to capture in such a simple and quick scene is just crazy to me.  I wish I could ask Sargent some questions about his philosophy of painting!
  For this painting (and for the foreseeable future), I used a really straightforward palette:
-Silver White
-Cadmium Yellow Light
-Cadmium Yellow Medium
-Yellow Ochre
-Cadmium Red Light
-Cadmium Red Medium
-Alizarin Crimson
-Venetian Red
-Burnt Sienna
-Viridian
-Cobalt Blue
-Ultramarine Blue
-Raw Umber
-Burnt Umber
-Ivory Black
  Aside from a few colors, this is the palette that I was using while as a student at the Pennsylvania Academy.  So I guess to go forwards in finding myself again, I'm going backwards and focusing more on simplicity.  No techniques, nothing fancy, no special way of doing it.  I just want to focus on painting and teaching for now and listening to my own inner voice.