Tuesday

This morning I added some more figures on the left and a few more in the background. Tomorrow I'll most likely be back over working on the people to the right. This is were the painting can drag on a bit, when you have a lot of figures or architecture to deal with. I find myself cleaning the brushes often to keep the colors pure. Usually I hold about ten brushes in my left hand as I work, but some times after a while some of the colors will mix on to other brushes and I need to take time off to clean everything up again, including the pallet. This way you don't find parts of your work getting muddy in color.

We got up very early today, 6:45 to be specific. Its Lina's tenth birthday and we were reminded of that on a daily bases for the past few weeks. So with Swedish tradition in mind, Karin made a cake and with candles lit, we all proceeded upstairs singing swedish birthday songs. One person carried the cake and the rest with presents in hands. It's a nice sight to have a group of family members slowly walk into a dark room and wake you up with candlelight.

Lina sat up and blew out the candles. She then opened the presents on the bed, as Karin and I sipped coffee. When Karin was ten years old, she remembered getting a tennis racket for her tenth birthday.....so tradition followed and Lina opened up hers. She also received many other things, like a rubic's cube, within seconds it was all mixed up and most likely will stay that way until somebody buys the solution book. "I use to do that thing in under two minutes back in college, but that was then!"

A package from Sweden arrived for Lina from Karin's mother, stuffed with more presents. After a while the bed was filled with wrapping paper and we thought it best to head down stairs for cake

Swedish cake is not as sweet as the American version which is usually coated in heavy sugary thick frosting. In Sweden, as well as our house we bake the cakes ourselves, put pineapple or banana between the layer and cover it with whip cream and strawberries. You don't end up with that obnoxious sugar buzz and I think it tastes a lot better!

Richard Boyer