Mondays after drawing a portrait in charcoal with Carl Samson, Millie and I head directly over to the Cincinnati Art Club in Mt. Adams for sketch group.

There's a different live model every week, so we eat a quick lunch and then continue to practice what we've learned in our Monday morning class.

I'm not a portrait painter but, as one of our classmates, Cindy Harlan Youse, said, "There's nothing like miles on the brush" for improving your work. Seeing the "bedbug" line and working with shapes and values has already influenced how I see the houses I've been commissioned to paint. When I'm at the sketch group at the art club, I draw in pencil and try to change position to a different view of the subject every 30 or 40 minutes.

In this case, I can't remember which one I did first but they both resemble him more than the studies I did six months ago, so I'm encouraged.