Day 24: Returning to the Feeder: Painting the Tufted Titmouse Again and Again

What we lose when we make art is infinite possibility—but what we gain is something real. A reflection on risk, creativity, and why getting on a high horse might be exactly what making art requires.
Day 23: Traveling Musicians & the Joy of Sharing Art

What we lose when we make art is infinite possibility—but what we gain is something real. A reflection on risk, creativity, and why getting on a high horse might be exactly what making art requires.
Day 22: Dear Oil Paint: Coming Home to Texture, Time, and Trouble

What we lose when we make art is infinite possibility—but what we gain is something real. A reflection on risk, creativity, and why getting on a high horse might be exactly what making art requires.
Day 21: Hitting the Wall: Finding Creative Fuel in a Daily Painting Practice

What we lose when we make art is infinite possibility—but what we gain is something real. A reflection on risk, creativity, and why getting on a high horse might be exactly what making art requires.
Day 20. On a High Horse: Why Making Art Requires Risk

What we lose when we make art is infinite possibility—but what we gain is something real. A reflection on risk, creativity, and why getting on a high horse might be exactly what making art requires.
Day 19: A Way Out of No Way — A Daily Bird Painting in Acrylic

“A way out of no way (raven study)” 6×6, Acrylic on canvas, framed For today’s painting, I chose a lesser-known quote from Martin Luther King, Jr., and, rather than illustrating his words directly, I approached the painting as a response—allowing color, movement, and texture to carry the emotional weight of the quote. I was especially […]
Day 18: A Prothonotary Warbler at Rest: When a Daily Creative Practice Needs a Breather

“Prothonotary Warbler at Rest” 4×4, Acrylic on canvas, framed One more little bird joins this acrylic painting flock today. In the online 31 in 31 community I host each year, I’m always struck by how often a creative practice hits a wall. Several of our poets have written poems about not being able to write […]
Day 17: Palette Knife Kingfisher — A Daily Bird Painting in Acrylic

“Still Returning — Kingfisher (Palette Knife Study),” 4×4, Acrylic on canvas Another acrylic bird joins the flock for Day 17 of my daily painting practice. This small painting features a kingfisher, a bird I first discovered during one of my earliest daily painting challenges more than a decade ago. Back then, I was working mostly […]
Day 16: Held in the Pattern (Trusting a Daily Painting Practice When Nothing Works)

“Held in the Pattern” 6×6, oil and acrylic on canvas When you’ve done as many 31 in 31 challenges as I have, you learn that the day will eventually come—sometimes more than one—when nothing works. Brushstrokes feel awkward. Colors refuse to cooperate. It can feel, briefly, like you’ve forgotten how to paint at all. Each […]