Every morning, and every afternoon, regardless of the weather,  I walk a mile to the river and back again with a 20 lbs pack that includes a table and chair (my 10,000 steps for the day). Wyoming hosts an unobstructed  horizon with a big sky;  the pond is the focal point and magnet for local wildlife.   Various procedures of  color and texture are the experiment of the day, as I slowly learn how oil paint works.

Similar to practicing the piano, I play the same piece over and over and over - then over again - the difference is that the music, once performed, is gone!  The painting panel remains, mistakes and all.  Carl Rungius once said they get interesting after the first 3,000...  Some local artists perform ritual bonfires.

True 'Daily Painting' has been my practice for 2 years now;  its a kind of OCD....there are about 500 'starts' to show for it but most get abandoned or re-primed.  A 'system' has evolved to an interesting degree of simplicity. There is no plan for what or how anything will be painted, and I never know where the final image comes from.       

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 For many years I was based in mid-town Manhattan where I could barely see the sky, let alone ponder the birds.  Here, from my perch by the pond, I  watch the unobstructed horizon, track the sunrise from solstice to solstice, and admire the duck broods and fox family, with no clients and no dead-lines.

 

This is a collection of some of those paintings as they evolve with the seasons…