Manual Labor

Lately I have been muttering to myself  "A painter's work is never done!" I know many painters sing the same refrain--if only we could spend all of our time actually PAINTING! But alas, there are many more tasks involved in our work. One distinctly unglamorous job is

Unfinished

"The Athenaeum"
Gilbert Stuart, 1796

I am often drawn to paintings that are not too finished, ones that are toeing the line of being "unfinished". Shown above is a very famous unfinished portrait, Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington. It is quite obviously unfinished---as in, somebody died or quit in the middle of the work. Screech!---you can practically feel the brakes slamming on. Rather than this sort of abrupt quitting in mid-canvas, what I really love are

Feels like Fall!

(c) Lesley Powell 2014

We are finally getting a real taste of fall! I was in rural Virginia recently, just on the cusp of fall, and took advantage of the perfect temperatures to paint outdoors. I was delighted to drive down a familiar road and see