I have been visiting and revisiting the figure throughout my art-making life, and am delighted to be able to incorporate (no pun intended) all of my years of drawing into this study of realistic skin tone and the dance of warms and cools over the landscape of the body. I guess I never wanted to go completely realistic with watercolor - it's water!  - so it's a matter of keeping my impression expressive. Obviously, this image has been done billions of times by artists throughout history and around the world, so it's not about  originality. But there is an awe and a mystery in being allowed to study our own form for a prolonged period of time. The experience of painting or drawing from life always feels brand-new and it is charged with a responsibility to honor the beauty and miracle of what I am witnessing.

    These are four monochromatic value studies done from some 1970's album covers. Do you recognize any of them?  It was a great exercise rendering the simple forms of the face without the confusion of color. I have started making paintings  of my friends and family members from photos.  It's wonderful studying the faces of the people i think i know -- there are always surprises.