Beginning a New Year

"La Ventana (2011)" is my first work in oil in several decades.

I celebrated my birthday recently and it seemed appropriate that I had also completed an oil painting I started awhile ago. It is view out of the window of my casa to the slopes beyond. In the blog, "On Being An Artist," I published the start of the piece and while I took pictures along the way, I never really knew when it would be done as I struggled to find my way from mid-point to the end.

In a way, The Painting, the first oil I have done in ages, is a metaphor for my life, except that I hope that mine isn't done yet! But the mid-way struggle is not unlike what we go through in the 40's and 50's trying to find the right balance of color and shape in our lives. Then as we arrive at the 60's we find a certain level of acceptance of limitations based on our experiences, health and desires, and we move on, using what we have to the best of our ability.

I am calling it "The Window" or "La Ventana" and now my next challenge is what will I paint next? Will it be "The Door?"

Last year I took this photo of a friend at her finca. Before I decided to return to oil painting, I used PhotoShop. I have worked some other photos in a similar way and actually have liked the results more than the sharp image I started with. If I could find a reasonable place to print them on canvas, I might try some them in that format as well.

So, it's a new year and I'm exploring...

I "PhotoShopped" this shot to make it a softer focus and
to eliminate the distractions of the greenery so that she
was truly the center of attention.