Update

"I have neglected my blog posts for far too long.  I could use the excuse that this last year has been incredibly and unexpectedly busy for me, but the cold truth is that I am a lazy undisciplined slug when it comes to keeping up with my website.  However, I now have recruited my new neighbor, a wonderful and talented web site designer, to update it and clear out some old stuff.  With her help, I just might be able to do a better job keeping up with all of it!  Accordingly, I am posting an image of the beginning of an oil painting of a ruby-crowned kinglet.  A kinglet is one of those little non-descript brown birds that fly out of the shrubs as you walk along a country road.  They dart in and out of the brush so quickly that you cannot see how cute they really are.  

Like many oil painters, I usually start an oil painting with a mid-tone background, but after visiting an amazing immersive exhibit on Leonardo da Vinci, I was inspired to start this one with a warm almost black background.  (Don't misunderstand - my work is nothing compared to da Vinci's, and I would never suggest otherwise! I simply found his idea of starting with a black canvas and his observations on shadows very intriguing.)  The drawing was scratched onto it in white, so it now looks more like a photo negative, meaning that the darks and lights are reversed from reality, thus presenting the first of what will be many challenges in this small painting.  I already plan to change the vertical branch that is almost in the middle of the canvas. We'll see how it works out in a few weeks...."