Retrospectives

Monthly Retrospective: May 2025

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This month, I painted small, in keeping with my desire to make things manageable. My outdoor paintings were painted on a 3.5″x5″ Moleskin pocket sketchbook; my studio paintings this month were painted on my Cheap Joe’s going-out-of-business stock of 6″ square Kilimanjaro paper. Outdoor Paintings Thanks to Lynne for getting me to go to to … Read more

Monthly Retrospective: March 2025

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I moved again this month – a smaller one, in terms of space, as we moved just 10 miles across town, but large in terms of time and effort since we moved ourselves, and moved from a furnished to an unfurnished apartment so we have to get furniture and lots of household goods. There is … Read more

Monthly Retrospective: February 2025

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I had a light month, art-wise. In part, this is because it has been a busy month for life stuff as I have once again been working on things like getting a new apartment. I expect the life stuff to continue apace through March, when I will actually move and have to furnish said apartment. … Read more

Monthly Retrospective: January 2025

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Sky A Day I started the month by attempting a “sky a day” challenge, but I abandoned it by day 4. Random Explorations After that, I felt a lot of freedom to explore completely random things: test paintings of new techniques, redos of old work, limited palette studies. I feel I am in a period … Read more

Monthly Retrospective: December 2024

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I will also do an annual retrospective, but here’s my month of December! The month was dominated by my Advent Calendar challenge. Advent Calendar Most of the month’s paintings were done specifically to showcase one of my DIY $0 Advent Calendar “gifts”. Some days I did swatches or non-paintings, but for these I had the … Read more

2024 Annual Retrospective

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This was a stressful year with lots of moves, losses, disappointments, regrets, and complications. Though I didn’t expect to, I’m glad to be ending the year in the same general geographical locale where I began it, and I’m hoping to have a simpler 2025. 

Art was a lifeline for me this year, providing a calm meditative activity and a point of focus other than the stresses of life. The first thing I did when going to any new home was to set up an art area.

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Monthly Retrospective: November 2024

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I got my next painting area up and running quickly after moving. I painted less than in October because I actually had things to do, like starting a new job, but I managed to still do a lot, including participating in Magrish’s annual sky challenge and rejoining Claire Giordano’s Adventure Art Academy!

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Monthly Retrospective: October 2024

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I spent much of October “convalescing in the countryside,” as I jokingly called it, on an extended visit to family in rural Massachusetts. From there, I did some job interviews in the city and wound up getting a job! I still have some business to take care of back in Vancouver, but very soon I will be back in Massachusetts to stay, and for many reasons I am feeling better about that than I felt about my attempt to move. I just love this landscape and I can’t explain it.

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Autumn Palette 2024 Revisited

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I’ve been using my autumn palette outside and in timely paintings for about a month, and I feel I have gathered enough experience to quickly review the colors and see if my expectations matched reality. Top Tier Colors I’m using these a lot: Also Good Borderline Not used as much as I expected What am … Read more