Life has been fun and busy these last couple of months. I’ve had two milestones to celebrate. One being selling my first ever painting in a gallery at the Tomato Art Fest in
East Nashville. The second is I’m going to be merchandising my art, cards and ornaments at a new store on
8th Avenue called Erabellum. These are two things I had no expectation of accomplishing this year. So, I am very happy and thankful.
As you might imagine, this has left me with a lot of unfinished work. At least half of it gets painted over as I’m working it. I guess I just envision that the finished product is not going to cut it, so I abandon ship half way through. There is good in this too though, as I am learning quickly and improving.
There is a down side to it too. Looking at some of these photos of the incomplete paintings, I can’t help but wonder what some of them would have turned out to look like. I’m going to spend the next few weeks sharing them with you. Then, it’s back to finished works. So, they will just be the painting and dimensions. Not much if any commentary.
There is a lot of value in seeing something all the way through I believe. You’ll never know what your capable of unless you commit to complete things, regardless of the results.
Marisa Ray
I've done a lot of snow scenes this year, so this painting was an intentional detour from that. It was almost like I was painting snow by default, not even realizing it. For this piece, I wanted to do a valley-like scene with a few houses in the distance. The structures here are not the entire focus, although they are part of the center of interest. I also wanted to incorporate birch trees, which I have a growing fondness for; the way they tower over the landscape. I was hesitant to put leaves at first, as it had been a while since I'd done so, painting bare winter trees for so long. 
Well everybody, here it is. Officially the silliest painting I've ever done! I decided to include one funny painting for this years Tomato Art Fest. I can't tell you how many nights I spent at open mic nights. The Gibson Cafe, The Commodore, Bluebird, French Quarter, etc. Some of these clubs are closed down, which is a bummer. I remember waiting until 10 or 11pm to get on stage. By the time I did, there were a few people in the audience, and mostly other musicians waiting to get on stage. I finally quit going to them, and just decided to spend the time working on songs at home.