I'm closing the year with an oil sketch of the actor Patrick Stewart that I painted from a photo reference.  I am adding this to a portfolio of portraits that I'm submitting to a portrait representative company.  This painting was a lot of fun to paint and I'm learning to paint in my own style more and more lately.
  This year was very trying for everyone and I'm glad that it's coming to an end.  I think this will be a year that will go down in the history books and future generations will be asking: "What was it like to live through 2020?".  I'm very thankful that my family and friends are healthy and I hope everyone out there has a healthy and happy end to 2020.  I'm looking forward to what 2021 brings!

  Merry Christmas to everyone, hope everyone is having a good one and got some cool gifts.
 I got some amazing books that I started working my way through.  The first book that I'm reading is one I've been waiting to read for a while: Painting Portraits by Everett Raymond Kinstler.  I'm not finished reading it yet, but I've already learned a tremendous amount.  It has a lot of technical information, which makes it fascinating to read.  The copy I got had a special addition of a drawing and inscription by Mr. Kinstler himself.
  I sadly never got to meet Mr. Kinstler in person, but I did exchange emails with him; he always took time to thoughtfully respond and give me advice for my work.

  I just got my membership packet in the mail today from the Portrait Society of America.  I'm very proud to be a member and to connect with this great organization.  I first became aware of the Portrait Society in 2013 when I won a scholarship from PAFA to attend a Portrait Society conference in Philadelphia.  I met a ton of great people at that 2013 conference including George O'Hanlon from Natural Pigments.  I knew I wanted to become a member at some point.
  The membership packet that they sent me is really nice and you can tell they care about their members and materials.  If you're interested in portrait painting I recommend you check them out :) 

  Just came across this really interesting footage of Alexius de László Painting a Portrait.  I'd recommend setting the playback speed at .75 because old film is slightly faster than reality.