I’ve been trying to learn new things, stretching as best I can. Kenny gave me a book  for Christmas, “Painting Portraits and Figures in Watercolor” by Mary Whyte, and it inspired me to try my hand at portraits. I had an old photograph of my father wearing a straw hat in bright sunshine. I’ve always liked that picture. Even though it lacked some detail, I decided to use it because I loved the way the woven pattern in the hat made little squares of sunlight on his face. It wasn’t easy, but I didn’t give up, even though many times during the process, I threatened that painting within an inch of its life. It was touch and go for many days. The drawing, planning, mixing, painting, took several weeks.  Its all done now and I’m very proud of it. As soon as Kenny photographs it for me, I will post it for you to see.           Title: “Leffel”.

I’ve also been writing.                                                                                                             Last year I discovered BLURB (free designing software, self publishing, check it out) and decided to collect all the stories my dad told us about his childhood growing up in Marion County, Georgia. He is a natural storyteller, mixing fact and fiction seamlessly just to entertain his audience. Well, I got started and life happened, so it was put on the back burner, until now. Well, this portrait of my dad inspired me to pick it up again. The title of the book is, “Leffel’s Tales”. I’m including some of my paintings to illustrate the stories.

Will keep you posted on my progress.