Yesterday I went to my first class meeting for this semester. I had painted 3 paintings during the spring break, so I walked into the studio with them in my arms. The class looked at the work, talked a while about my “controversial” picture “Up and Down the Tate”, and in the end I got really good feedback. My professor even went so far as to say that he sees a “new Hopper emerging” and that the work is taking a good direction! Since my professor has been very critical in the past, this feedback was totally unexpected.

That kind of feedback motivates a person, and today I started painting my new big painting “Baywatch Tower after Sunset”. I had built the frame and put the canvas on it a few days earlier, but now the “painting” part has begun! The painting is based on a photo of a baywatch tower in over-saturated sunset lighting, but I’m going for the moment just after the sun goes down. I’m drawing inspiration from Edward Hopper’s “Railroad Sunset” for the colors.