Paint the Town, Loveland OH, Sunday, June 28, 2009. Started this acrylic painting of the Pizazz store at about 8:45 am on Friday morning, referencing photos I had taken at 1 pm Wed. Finished this on Sunday afternoon during the wet paint sale from 2-4 pm. I was standing in the shade again, enjoying the sound of water trickling from the fountain, but there was a strong breeze and I had a hard time holding onto the sheet of cardboard I'd taped this canvas to.

As often happens, the challenge of the conditions freed me somehow to complete a better painting than I think I would have without the wind.

Warren County Arts Festival, Lebanon OH Saturday June 27. Arrived in front of McMurray Framing and Gifts to begin painting during the festival. I had a 16 x 20" canvas sheet, taped off into 4 quadrants, my usual m.o. for doing small acrylics and color sketches for larger paintings.

Here's one of The Golden Lamb, Ohio's oldest inn. Just like some of the countryside around here in southwest Ohio seems to resonate with early Indian culture, standing on this street reminds me that this intersection was a town even before Ohio became a state. I enjoy its main street, and even more so on a hot, sunny June Saturday with lots of people out and about to see the art show, eating ice cream and smiling.

One of the most fun parts of painting this was listening to a child laugh behind me.

An artist I paint with every week has been on a roll painting places she'd love to be for the AARP calendar content. That gave me the idea for this one, which is a warm up for a portrait I'm doing of a friend's lake cottage. This has been one of my favorite places to spend time, ever since college at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, which is not far away.

I'm still working on this right now to bring the lower left quadrant into balance with the rest but have to get over to Loveland this afternoon to "Paint the Town." Started my 16 x 20" acrylic of the Pizazz store this morning about 8:45 am. The weather was beautiful: sun shining but cool in the shade where I was standing enjoying the sound of the fountain splashing behind me.

Tonight is the opening of EXPOSED: Top 100 Secret Artists of 2008 at 811 Race St. in downtown Cincinnati. I was thrilled to be chosen and am looking forward to catching up with friends at this party on a hot summer night in June. No damage from the storm last night and lucky to still have power as I know some don't.

This is a home portrait I'm working on; it's oils over acrylics on an 18 x 24" stretched canvas. When I stopped, I liked the liveliness of it and wanted to look at it for a while as it dried. I plan to paint on this one some more tomorrow but I'm ready to show it to the homeowners and get their feedback.

Showing people work in progress can be a double-edged sword, especially when I'm not finished or satisfied with a painting yet. But I've found that getting feedback earlier rather than later is helpful. In fact, in makes commissions more fun because it becomes more of a collaboration between us.

The good part of painting in oils is the richness and enjoyment I have using them but having to wait for paint to dry before continuing on where I want to go is frustrating. I'm spoiled by working in acrylics. But laying oils over acrylics is a good compromise for me and, in this case, the challenge is preserving some of the freshness of the alla prima painting on and around the home itself.

What a treat it is to paint every day; what I've dreamed of for years and never thought I'd do! This week, the results have been mixed but I'm pleased about the different subjects I worked on -- 5 different ones so far -- and the different media: acrylics, water-based oils, drawing in charcoal pencil and mixed media with colored pencils over paint. Today I painted for a little under 3 hours and walked for an hour.

When I started this painting, it seemed like it wasn't going to work and I was bored with it. But then it got to a point where I got very enthused about it. I should have quit about 30-40 minutes before I did; it looked better then and I overworked it and couldn't get it back to where it was.

Kevin MacPherson's right: you learn how to look and you learn a lot about looking from painting every day. In a funny way, it's fitting right in with my goal of walking an hour a day too.

Painting every day is allowing me to experiment. Today, it was with new media -- water soluble oil paints. Boy, are they ever different than acrylics! I'll know I've really made progress with this painting a day exercise when I'm ready to show one. Not yet!! Looking at the scene out my window done at 10 am with acrylics vs. the one done today at 4 pm with water-missable oils, I don't like either one at all. Oh well; the point is doing, not necessarily the result. And, it's nice to be able to try anything without worrying about the result. Next time, maybe a knife painting?

Painted a total of 3 hours today: once for 2 hours and then later for an hour out the window. Still trying to figure out lettering for the family tree and I've been working on 3 small acrylic sketches of my Cincinnati skyline-Roebling Bridge photos. May try to post those on Twitter and ask which one people like best and why. Need to update my web site with this daily blog, Twitter, and Facebook links.

Painting every day is easier dreamed than done! However, Monday I worked on commissioned home portrait in Lebanon, Ohio; hopefully more progress on that tomorrow when I'm up in Lebanon but hope the weather's better then; it's steadily raining now. Yesterday, completed four small watercolors of Walloon Lake, Michigan and they went over well:) Today, contacting a home portrait commissioner in Wyoming, Ohio to review the 3 different views I've drawn and sketched in acrylics; you're seeing my personal favorite one here. Also hope to work more on the tree in the painting of the family tree I was commissioned to paint. Thinking maybe I should scan it into the computer and try some variations in PhotoShop to guide me to the next steps in the painting. We'll see.