A decade ago, I was painting in oils, using the old masters technique of completing the image in monochrome and thinly glazing color on top.

At the time, I enjoyed learning the technique and was pleased with the results, but I didn't yet have a sense of WHAT to paint, or how to make my images unique and personally relevant.

When I fell in love with Urban Sketching, and began to travel more, I needed a more portable and immediate way of capturing images on location.

I found that watercoloring over diluted India ink worked exactly the same as the oil technique, and drawings could be completed on site, or at least within the same day, and easily carried around in sketchbooks.

Completing a drawing a day allowed me to publish almost a book a year, but more important, allowed me to explore composition, subject matter, color and other artistic considerations quickly without a heavy investment in each drawing.

Thousands of drawings later, I'm returning to oils and applying everything I've learned from a decade of sketch-booking.

I'm committing the year, from 4/12/23 to 4/12/24 to see what happens. I'm motivated and energized. It feels good.