MONTHLY PAINTING CHALLENGE FINISHED!

I really enjoyed painting in the studio today. Put on an exciting book on tape and here is the result. I still have some ideas for other variations - want to do one with the grid as a texture and another with the grid as collage papers but it will have to wait for next month. I have a commission portrait to do first. This will be my first commission in many, many years. The person who wants the painting is pretty flexible about the result, so we will see how it goes.

I have been thinking about the December challenge and I decided to keep it simple since it tends to be such a busy month for so many people. I will announce the new challenge on the last day of November, along with a slide show of all those paintings submitted to me.

The box of Tyvek paper arrived today!! I was really worried as the box didn't fair that well in transit. The paper survived with no damage. The box weighed over fifty pounds but with a little help I wrestled it onto a table top. Local people can let me know if you want some of this paper.

I was wandering around on the internet today and found some great sites. One was a art teacher and she had some fun sounding drawing assignments, so I will be borrowing some of her ideas and sharing them with you. I also found a wonderful interview with one of my all time favorite artists CHUCK CLOSE. It is a 21 minute interview on NPR by Terri Gross from 1998. He shares wonderful insites into his art. The one thing he didn't explain is how he knows how a square will read from across the room when he is working on it. This is the thing that most intrigues me about his process. Chuck Close has worked with a grid for almost 40 years. Since we are working on a grid this month, I thought you might enjoy listening to the interview. Below is the web address. Enjoy!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15660759 (Chuck Close Interview on NPR)