Winter

Since my last entry we've finally had a dose of "real winter," and I couldn't be happier. We had our first significant snowfall (About 10 inches) within a week of my last posting, and this was the largest amount of snow that we've had since we moved here almost three years ago. And we got a real cold snap with temperatures down into the single digits! Yippee! No, really, yippee! Without these things, I was really getting homesick for a midwestern winter.

Now I have my bearings again. In fact, a friend recently asked me if the cloudy days in Pennsylvania slow me down. While I would prefer to see the sun more, I have to say that there's nothing that I enjoy more than taking a hot chai latte to my studio and digging in on some work during these gentle grey days. It seems to bring a sense of balance to me.

Detail of Andrew and Matthew in Black Moshannon State Park, a recent commissioned painting.

I've used this new equilibrium to focus on a few ambitious paintings in my studio. This past month I've been really busy with commission work, everything from portraits to landscapes. The piece pictured here represents a wonderful hybrid of these two distinct categories, landscape and portrait. My clients approached me with an idea to do a portrait of their sons, but they didn't want a standard, formal portrait with the boys being the sole focal point. So we worked together and came up with an idea to place the boys into a distinctive Pennsylvania landscape: Black Moshannon State Park. I thoroughly enjoyed working on this piece as it combined my favorite venue with their portrait idea. I especially enjoy their reflections in the bog, kind of a nice metaphor for two youngsters who are growing up each day.

In between commission work I've made some progress on a couple of my own pet projects. I'm focusing a bit more on creating larger works and upon some ideas that I've had percolating in my mind for cityscapes. Stay tuned for the fruits of these labors within the coming weeks.