This is a 11x14 Oil painting of my dad. It is #37 in my daily painting exercise 50 paintings in 50 days. I know as some artist think this 50 in 50 is no big deal; my hats off to them. For me however it has been hard. Only, the best HARD I have ever done. I would not trade this time for anything. I have gotten my “artists eye” back. I work full time in a gallery and frame shop so I see art all the time. You tend to shut yourself down after a while. Waiting on customers, designing and building frames, digital photo restoration work, ordering, dealing with the inferior moulding that seems to be today’s standard, yada, yada, yada, and juggling the many different aspects of running a shop is daunting. Sometimes when I get home, what energy I have left is zapped after the evening meal is cleaned up. This is nothing new to women everywhere. I turned 50 this year and for 35 of those years I have been painting, teaching and doing some type of art. I’m not getting younger, so it is now or never to poor myself into the field full time. I am putting it out there, into the universe, I want to be working full time on painting instead of running a gallery in one year. That said, I am over halfway finished with my “50 in 50” and I am so glad I did this. It has gotten me back into painting for the love of painting instead of for commissions or a gallery.  I see a painting around every corner, and I cannot wait to get to my studio in the evenings.

So, go ahead, challenge yourself and see what you can accomplish!