I postponed the juggler and did the guitar player first...

Today is not only my birthday, it's also my youngest daughter's BD. 15 years old... WOW! Up at 5:30am to get a BD breakfast together before off to school. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night 'cause she is also going through mid-term exam week. Being first year high school, this is her first cramming experience.

Got a BD call from my older daughter early this morning, who also did not get much sleep. She runs the publicity photo department for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They announced the Academy Awards nominations this morning, so all the Academy employees involved had to report last evening at 5:30. Once in the building, the place was locked down, all cell phones were taken away and the Internet was turned off until after the announcement. The lock down happens, because they all learn who the nominees are ahead of time so they can get a jump start on their jobs... which keeps them up all night.

So... it's my BD and I've decided to take the day off from my illustration work and just paint...

Going to start working on the juggler. I did a quick sketch to get a better sense of him...

another detail on the background landscape



...and a detail of the detail

I haven't had a lot of time to work on the painting in the last couple weeks. I've got a couple days now.

Started using a new medium. I was using Liquin Fine Detail, but have started to use Studio Products Marogers Medium and am quite taken with it. It certainly is different from anything I've tried before and apparently has a reputation that can only be described as "ya love it" or "ya hate it." I've been encouraged to use it by some and called a moron for using it by others... I'm going to continue using it for the time being.

Another detail:



...and a detail of the detail...

Another detail - upper left



Working on a large picture with several more or less discrete areas has an advantage. I can move around to different areas from day to day. In that way I keep working on it while the just painted areas dry.

I'm going to start showing some details. There is not nearly finished painting in this detail... but since the picture is so large, I think details are important.