And Finally

 ...for the 40th time, some more work on the back wall.

 

                                                Echo, work in progress. Click on image for larger view
 

Next

 Next, I tried to clean up the floor (see below). With partial success. But no cigar.

                                                 A Quiet Moment at The Met, work in progress. Click on image for larger view

The Daily Struggle

 Painting did not go well today, though I pushed forward on three projects.

                                                Immersed, work in progress. Click on image for larger view

My goal on the above was to work on creating form on the jacket. I did, I think; but I'm bothered by the chaotic mess in the background. 
 

A Day's Work

 Though there was some frustration at times, I managed to push through and make a decent amount of progress on three paintings. 

Most of the frustration was due to the fact that I just couldn't get the paint to behave on the turquoise sweater, and I'll have to go over it yet again. Plus, I'm mindful of the fact that there's still a lot to finish on the painting-within-the-painting. And especially the frame.

                                                            Another Reality, work in progress. Click on image for larger view

 

Had somewhat more success on this one; I think the color of the marble floor/wall strip is pretty good, though it needs more refinement. The pinkish clogs are just.not.right. 

                                                            A Window, work in progress. Click on image for larger view
 
This is nearly done, hurray. I have a lot of edge work to clean up and I'll have to wait for the wall paint to dry to make sure it blends with what's already there.

                                                         Echo, work in progress. Click on image for larger view
 

 
 
 

Optical Illusion?

Okay; I sat down with a ruler and measured out the high points of the wooden slats in the middle row—  down to the millimeter, in fact. And yet the lines STILL look uneven to me. Not sure where to go from here.

This is before— after I cleaned off the top layer of paint—

 

 And this is after.

 

Done For The Day

 That ornate, ripply picture frame took a lot of time today, and I'm glad to have it over with. The frame still needs a lot of work but I can set it aside for a while and concentrate on other things.

                                                         Another Reality, work in progress. Click on image for larger view
 

Hitting The Ground Running

 So far today; good work on the denim pants, and some blocking in on the new piece.

 

                                                         A Window, work in progress. Click on image for larger view

 

                                                          In The Details, work in progress. Click on image for larger view
 

3 For The Day

 It's been quite a while since I've been able to stick to my goal of working on three paintings a day, so I'm happy that I got to do that today despite all the current chaos in my life. Sorry for the glare on upper right; the sun goes down early these days and I had to shoot by lamp light.

                                                         Echo, work in progress. Click on image for larger view
 

 

Redness

 Was the sky really this color when I took the photo? And how can I soften the edges of the clouds to make them look more realistic? 

                                                         Sky/Sea #3, work in progress. Click on image for larger view
 

A Diversion

 While I wait for things to dry, I might as well work on some fun pieces, like the 10x10 sky/sea series on aluminum panels. I'm bothered by the harsh edges of the clouds though and have to figure out how to deal with those.

                                                         Sky/Sea #2, work in progress. Click on image for larger view
 

Shimmering Light

 Continued to work this one, paying attention to the floor this time.

                                                         Messages, work in progress. Click on image for larger view
 

Revisiting

I've been working on this for over an hour now, and am going to take a break. It's tedious trying to get those interior architectural details right; the lines have to not only be straight, but the colors and the values have to be correct as well. If you want to portray a wash of light over a broad area, you've got many things to consider. 

Anyway, I'm happy with today's work. I toned down the dark lines, made the arches look right, and did some detailed work on the figure. Pretty soon I'm going to get back to the floor.

                                                         Messages, work in progress. Click on image for larger view
 

  

Can I Catch A Break?

 All I want to do is stay home and paint. But apparently I need more root canal.

 I did squeeze in a little time on this today, and made good progress on that area at the top...

                                                         Messages, work in progress. Click on image for larger view
 

Placement

 At this very early stage of the game, I'm just putting paint down to set transition points, places where one form changes to another. Markers, if you will. This one is going to be fun to paint.

                                                               In The Details, Click on image for larger view

More Floor

 Since I already had the colors I needed for the floor squeezed out for the Met painting, I decided to do some more floor work. Thankfully, this one went a lot quicker and easier. 

                                                              A Window, Click on image for larger view
 

Spinning My Wheels

 This has been an incredibly difficult painting to work on, and though I'm trying to get it ready for sale at the end of the month, I'm afraid I need to wipe out the parquet floor entirely.

When I look at it, I see wavy lines where there should be straight ones. And while working on it today, I realized that somewhere in the middle of the floor the corners just don't line up. I have two choices: wait for it to dry and then start over with corrected measuring and drawing, or just sand the paint off and start fresh.

On top of that, there's still the Messonier to finish, and another attempt at getting the graduated shadows on the guard's face. 

                                              A Quiet Moment at the Met, Click on image for larger view