Back to oil painting after a 3+ year break 7/20/2018

There are a lot of good reasons I took a break from painting in oils, so here’s the story. I began a series called Everyday Heroes (see ARCHIVE) in 2008. These were fun, whimsical paintings that I loved creating.

In 2011, we moved to another home and the size of my studio space was seriously reduced. I also had a job that was becoming more demanding and these paintings took time that I no longer had. By 2015, I felt that the Everyday Heroes series was completed.

A few months earlier I had surprised myself by taking up watercolor, having never really cared for the medium before. Doing watercolors of the figure was a new creative challenge for me. About the same time I started sculpting in clay, but due to my studio size limitation I was doing most of my work at various art centers in night classes. 

In January 2017, my new home studio was completed and I had room to work on everything. It was so great just to have my own model stand.  Some time in June, right in the middle of painting the model using watercolor, I decided it was time to paint in oils again. Bam, it just hit me out of the blue!

So I pulled out a canvas and jumped back in….and it’s nice to be back.