Monday, Dec. 7

We are having a cold spell here in Salt lake, with more snow on the way. The night time temperatures are getting down towards the single digits, with everything covered in white snow outside. The days are shorter now and any ideas of warmth from the sun are becoming a distant memory. Normally this is when I start fantasizing about having one percent of Bill Gates annual salary and me sitting in a beach chair on one of those tropical islands you see in the Corona Beer commercials. Not to far off from the painting below !



But noooooo, it's Monday morning and time for reality. I bundled Lina up, put on the winter boots and with the dog in tow, we headed up the hill to her school in the cold morning air. The snow squeaked, as we walked on the freshly fallen addition from the night before. Twenty five minutes later I returned with rosy cheeks and numb fingers. Another warm cup of coffee fixed that problem.

The painting should look very familiar, it certainly does for me. I started one again with the sky and worked my way down into the water, then moved on to the three girls. The second time around seems to go faster, most likely because all the decision making has been thought out already and it basically becomes easier to work through it. Sometimes the second time around can look even better because of the confidence level. Tomorrow I can fine tune the figures better and work on the water in the fore ground.

I can't tell you how much of a pain this is to redo the piece, it's putting off the Amsterdam painting, which is really the one I need to be working on.

Richard Boyer