I was doing some painting last night and I realized again how much I love painting various textures.  The most amazing part of oil paint is the ability to transform one material into another, exactly like alchemy.
 The painting was all alla prima and took me about 3 hours to complete.  I'm a fast painter, but that was even fast for me to complete a painting.  I recently made a deal with myself that I will never rush a painting, if I feel like I'm rushing I put my brushes down and walk away; since this painting progressed from beginning to end, I didn't feel the need to walk away.  I feel like the speed also helps me because I don't end up overthinking areas and going back and muddling them up.
 It was also really fun to paint because I was really inspired by the color of the rum and the orange reflections that are created with light passing through the bottle.  Even though this painting only took a few hours, I was totally immersed and focused the entire time.  I've come to realize that the question of "how long did that take" is not an accurate reflection of the skill or quality of the painting.  
  Handling the smaller details such as the label on the bottle or the cap of the bottle was the only area where I used a smaller brush.  For those details I like to use small synthetic watercolor brushes, but the rest of it is larger bristle brushes.  And the details are actually pretty abstract when you see the painting close up.  I'm not sure if it's my own speed or laziness, but I always painted details in a shorthand sort of way.  I like suggesting a bit of detail, but I don't like laborious painting because it makes the painting feel lifeless in my opinion.  I feel like I captured a sense of space with this one and the light and textures are as accurate as I could make them.  Stay tuned for more soon!

  I started a self portrait today and an important thing that I need to remember moving forwards: Always simplify the values in the beginning stages.  Detail doesn't matter if the overall value structure is wrong.  Have a nice weekend everyone! 

  I just did a painting study tonight (pictured below) that inspired me to share some some insight.  The reason I did this painting was because I was feeling pretty bad after having painted a really terrible painting earlier today.  So I was feeling pretty low and decided to take a different approach to this second painting.  The painting is of an amaryllis bulb that flowered recently.  I wanted to just slow down a little bit and paint this study piece by piece in a very deliberate fashion.
​  I feel like the painting came out well and taught me a really valuable lesson in the importance of having deliberate action with my paint.  I won't be in a rush anymore to paint and I'll be taking my time from here on.

  I just finished up making my holiday cards for this year and I want to talk about using a material I haven't tried before.  The material is wax resist sticks made by Grumbacher.  I have wondered about wax resist for a while because I know Sargent used it, but I am just trying it for the first time today!  I have to say that I loved it and I'll be using it for my future watercolors.  The best part is that you can use them while the watercolor is still wet to create highlights.  Since I was painting snow scenes for my holiday cards, this came in extremely handy.