I finally put my two most recent paintings on the website.  I'm very excited about them.  Some of my paintings, especially the smaller ones, almost look better in the photos.  The photos don't really do these large ones (4 by 5 feet) justice.  I'm especially intrigued by my treatment of the one titled Winter Garden and am preparing two more canvases in an attempt to replicate it.  It always seems that the first of a new technique is always the best.  My copies never seem to be as good.  Oh well, I guess it's promising when I keep stumbling across new inventions.  I just know I'd rather paint gardens than work in them.

There is a colorful, but strange bird, that keeps flying up against my dining room window.  I'm wondering if it's a male that is so enamored of his own reflection that he keeps trying to get closer.  Or perhaps he thinks his relection is the enemy.  Either way, it's a little disturbing.  I guess I will go back to the studio and put on the headset so I can't hear him.  

I have posted five new paintings to the "recent work" part of this website.  Two of them are garden scenes and three are the new ones.  Scott called them Italio Vito style of surreal landscapes.  I guess that works for me because I'm not sure how to characterize them.  I'm just about finished with two more.  I'm not sure what will happen with this new style once I stop painting over stuff.  I've now painted over all of the pictures from my painting class and I'm afraid I won't have much a muse when faced with a blank canvas.  We shall see. 

It's possible I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I'm trying to learn to take joy in even the smallest chores.  I mean, if I've already decided to do it, for whatever reason, resistance robs me of any possibility of getting any of the good stuff out of it.  Humans seem to take their reward in finishing the job, not in the process of doing the job.  I believe procrastination is born of resistance to chores or obligations that we don't wish to do.  Obviously, in some part of our minds, they are not a choice.  So, if we are going to do them, the resistance robs us of the possibility of any joy other than that gained from finishing. 

My attempt to take some kind of positive attitude towards that which I do, gives me the opportunity to, once again, demonstrate my self-will.  In some circles, self-will is seen as a negative component of our make-up.  Sure, self-will doesn't work on that over which we have no power, but all the other stuff?  I think it does.  I am not beholding to anyone else's emotional needs and I don't really believe others are unless they have children that are not adults.  I am only responsible for my own, as I believer we all are, ultimately. 

I'm sure there are many who might depend, emotionally, on another.  We are really responsible for meeting our own needs and I'm not too interested in people whose co-dependency requires them to look to others for their sustenance.  To be real honest, they bore me.  What a waste of a life; to pin your joy on someone else's ability to meet your needs.  I think love is about giving, not getting.

I went outside today and the hyacinths are in bloom.  The scent is heady and I can smell the ones I cut and put in the kitchen from here.  It's time to paint.  I'm making real progress and for that I am truly grateful. 

A lot of liberals think of themselves as intellectually superior, but how dumb is it to play right into the Republican's hand?  If you don't think they are helping to engineer this conflict, you are more naive than I thought.  All the Democrats have to do is fight among themselves and the Republican's walk away with another election.  Smart?  When are we going to wise up?

PLEASE!