“A thing about Tommy that we had in common is liking to draw. His doodling he called it. For him, though, it was like blood, this thing that came out of him whenever he got hurt.” That’s a quote from the novel I’m reading by Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead. The protagonist is a 10 year old boy who has had nothing but hard luck and gosh I hope his fortunes change or the rest of the book will be a bit of a grind; I’m about a quarter-way through. But Tommy survived his foster-care miseries by drawing. Tommy’s a boy after my own heart, as I often had a pencil in my hand as a kid. And today painting and drawing continues to comfort and soothe. It’s another world I can visit, that is safe and familiar. Tommy and I are both very fortunate for having discovered the Art Planet.

Here’s a small abstract that I worked on over the weekend. I was grateful for studio time.

12″ x 12″ acrylic, oil pastel on claybord