Done with the second day working on this.  I think it's going to take around 3 more sessions to get the background fully in and the full details of my portrait.  It's going well and I'm excited to work on it more.
  My watercolor class for the Ridgewood Community School starts tonight at 7 which is something else that I'm looking forward to.

  This past weekend I went painting en plein air with my friend Asem and ran into some frustration.  Sometimes a painting doesn't go well and there's nothing you can do except to learn something from it.  The weather was beautiful regardless and we had a fun time hiking to our painting spot.  If you live around Bergen County, NJ, then check out our PCD En Plein Air events that I host.
 With the frustration of yesterday, I realized the importance of painting what you enjoy and what you're inspired by.  I did a painting today of a scene that I've wanted to paint for a while and it came out great.  While I was painting, I was thinking about a Sargent painting, Venetian Glass Workers (1880/2).  I've seen the painting a few times in person in Chicago and it always stuck with me.

  I'm also proud to announce that our Pushing Colored Dirt fall 2020 courses are open for registration.  I'm teaching a bunch of different adult courses and you can check out all the awesome instructors that are a part of our crew.  If you have questions you can also email me at eric@pushingcoloreddirt.com
​  I'll be writing again soon because I haven't written enough recently.  Have an awesome week.

  I'm so excited to announce that one of my classes at Pushing Colored Dirt begins tonight at 7PM.  Our classes are online and are taught via Zoom.  My class tonight is Watercolor for Beginners, but I'm also teaching Pet Portraits for Beginners which begins this Friday, July 31st and you can still sign up for it.
​  Also, you guys should sign up for our PCD newsletter.  I'll be sending out news, information about classes, some cool art history facts, quotes and general advice about art making.  You can sign up by visiting our PCD homepage and scrolling down to subscribe.
   I know I haven't written on this personal blog in a while, but I did write a long blog post over at PCD that you should check out.  I wrote it about inspiration, influences and idol worship.  If you ever feel lost as an artist (or person in general) give it a read and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
​  Have a wonderful week everyone, much love.

  I have some big news because I'm going to be working and collaborating with the super talented, Mr. Julian Tejera to build and grow a project that he founded, called Pushing Colored Dirt.
  I met Julian a few months back and we instantly formed a connection.  He's a brilliant teacher and we share a common goal of providing a strong art education for teens and adults.  Julian and I also share a firm foundation in the academic tradition of art making.
  This project is developing and will be further enhanced throughout this summer.  Julian and I are looking forward to providing the quality art education that every student deserves.  The classes and content will be online for now and possibly could develop into a studio location where students can come.  Essentially it's a school, but it's also an online community where we can share ideas and build together.
  Sadly, arts programs have been the victim of budget cuts and school's have done away with many important studio art classes.  Having taught at a public school myself, I saw this first hand; art isn't taken as seriously as it should be.  We're going to build a program that appreciates creativity and the power that creativity has on developing a successful person.
  
More news will be coming soon...  ↓↓↓↓For now↓↓↓↓
Teens and adults can explore and sign up for summer camps and courses right now by visiting this link: www.pushingcoloreddirt.com/camps-n-courses 

                        ↓Follow our progress on social media as well↓