I was working on a corporate team building art experience in water based paint for over 3 weeks. It was a fun journey to go back to the old school, production style painting that I was trained in long ago. My first art job out of college was creating works on canvas with stencil and I could do 50 paintings per week. I learned so much from that job and it got me into my work at the Indiana State Museum because it was located in the same building, the Stutz Building. But working in acrylic, whether on panel or on mural feels so different from oil painting.

No wonder I feel in love with oil painting in college and took it on as a second major. Once I experienced oil paint in college I was hooked and it felt like home. 28 years later, I am still going at it and the work continues to change and grow. Yesterday I did a deep dive into a commission and the oil painting felt so good to me. The smell, the feel and the results always create a since of accomplishment.

With oil paints the palette is so rich. It takes many years to become a good mixer of colors and some days it simply does not flow! But when it does, like yesterday, it feels like I drift away from planet Earth and become a channel for some extraordinary energy. I am so in love with the process and even though we all have days when it is not flowing; when it is, it an indescribable feeling that I escape into and become water like – soft, moving, flowing and refreshing!

I am so grateful to share my responsibility with the world. Be it oils or acrylics, art changes people lives. It continues to change mine and support my growth each day. Bring it, Universe! I am yours!

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