December was an interesting month. Of course, it always is with the holidays. The whirlwind of activity with family, traveling and the general hubub of the season was topped off on Christmas day with piles of snow! (We have lost track of how many times it has snowed since the beginning of November.)

This was followed 10 days later with another 20 inches of snow. We think it makes everything quite lovely and wintery. After all, this is Vermont! Now we are in a cold snap that rivals Alaska with well below zero temperatures. In this kind of cold I am especially fond of the deep cobalt blue and violet shadows in the snow against the glistening brilliance of the sun. It always inspires me. I need to get out and do some sketching....

   "Crest of the Falls in Winter"  Oil on Canvas 48" x 39"  This painting is now at the Golden Door Gallery in New Hope, PA.

The painting above is the fourth version of this composition. The first was a pencil sketch. Second, a small, summertime oil. The third is underneath of this painting and also wintertime. It took me an additional week and a half to rework this canvas to its present state - where I am satisfied and finished with it!

In December I painted nine new oils and reworked three others by cutting down one canvas ("Hunts Point", below) and repainting. Patricia saw little of me. The process of working on images in oil paint is constant. Sometimes a work is finished only after the painting is no longer in my possession. I continue to paint about a third of the paintings after my initial completion. Occasionally I will completely rework the surface. Most changes are tonal on top of the existing painting. I will also return to a painting and rework just specific areas. Here is an example of reworking an entire composition by glazing with transparent layers of blues: