Still Life with Scarlet Runner Beans and Glass Bottle (A Meditation on 13 Years)

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A Meditation for 13 Years
A Meditation on 13 Years

Today marks 13 years since I began making paintings for this blog. You can read some of my writings on this date in past years here. This blog has made my painting practice public, but for me, my daily paintings are intensely personal and my practice is a mindfulness meditation. Through my work, I hope to share with you a sense of awe and wonder I feel about beauty that is all around us in our daily lives. In a small way, I hope my work might awaken the same thing in you. P.S. These beans were another gift from my neighbors. #gifts #grateful

If you enjoy this painting, you may also like to see my other "anniversary" paintings or a bunch of my paintings of glass bottles.

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Still Life with Italian Plum and Silver Creamer (A Meditation on 10 Years)

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A Meditation for 10 Years
A Meditation on 10 Years

Today marks 10 years since I began making paintings for this blog. Starting with a pink zinnia, I set out to make a painting a day and to see if I could develop a sustainable painting practice for myself -- I had no idea it would lead me to where I am today. Ten years later, my blog has had well beyond a million visitors from over one hundred countries, and my work has been the subject of many interviews and articles, and is in books, magazines, and private, public, and museum collections on six continents. I know these numbers because what comes with the Internet-age is data, and, for better or worse, data is a force of nature. That said, I don't know exactly how many daily paintings I've painted since September 23, 2007. A close estimate is between 1300-1400 hundred paintings.

More important to me than that number is what my daily painting practice means to me. Spending time doing this created a way of life. Some days are a challenge, but for ten years, this vocation has enriched my life, and this inspires me to continue painting as often as I do. Painting for me is about paying attention and capturing a moment. Contemplative paying attention allows me to have an intimate relationship with my painting subjects. Mutual respect and exchange of energy manifests itself as gesture, movement, weight, edges, texture, and color harmony. I often choose from my collection of handmade pottery or local co-op produce or a scene out my window -- and it is magic to me that my subjects can be simultaneously animated and meditative. Painting is both big and small. It is humble and majestic. It is reflective and sometimes difficult. It is present moment and vast potential.

This blog has made my daily painting practice public, but for me, my daily paintings are intensely personal. They are a sort-of diary of my life. My painting practice is a mindfulness meditation. Through my work, I hope to share with you a sense of awe and wonder I feel about beauty that is all around us in our daily lives. In a small way, I hope my work might awaken the same thing in you.

Today's plum is from my local co-op, my colorful shirt was a recent hand-me-down from my wonderful sister, and the silver creamer was an amazing gift I got today.

Today, while I painted this painting, I felt an overwhelming sense of humility.

A decade later, I still feel like a beginner every time I sit down at my easel.

Today (and every day) I offer my gratitude to you for your continued interest in my work. Thank you for allowing me to share it with you.

P.S. My free print giveaway in honor of 10 years ends tonight at midnight. Throw your name in the hat.

If you enjoy this painting, you may also like to see my other "anniversary" paintings.

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To purchase my work, view my Current Auctions and All Available Paintings.

Thank you for 10 years,

Still Life with Robin's Egg and Japanese Cup (A Meditation on 9 Years)

Still Life with Robin's Egg and Japanese Cup (A Meditation on 9 Years)

A Meditation for 9 Years
A Meditation on 9 Years

Today marks 9 years since I began making paintings for this blog. Starting with a pink zinnia, I set out to make a painting a day and to see if I could develop a sustainable painting practice for myself -- I had no idea it would lead me to where I am today. Nine years later, my blog has had well beyond a million visitors from over one hundred countries, and my work has been the subject of many interviews and articles, and is in books, magazines, and private, public, and museum collections on six continents. I know these numbers because what comes with using the Internet is data, and, for better or worse, data is a force of nature.

The number I can't tell you is exactly how many daily paintings I've painted since September 23, 2007. Because I don't exactly know (an approximate number is around twelve or thirteen hundred).

I haven't counted because that number is not as important to me as what my daily painting practice means to me. Spending time doing daily paintings creates a way of life. Some days are a challenge, but for nine years, this vocation has enriched my heart and mind and soul, and this inspires me to continue painting as often as I do.

Painting for me is about paying attention and capturing a moment. Contemplative paying attention allows me to have an intimate relationship with my painting subjects. Mutual respect and exchange of energy manifests itself as gesture, movement, weight, edges, texture, and color harmony. I often choose from my collection of handmade pottery or local co-op produce or a scene out my window -- and it is magic to me that my subjects can be simultaneously animated and meditative. Painting is both big and small. It is humble and majestic. It is reflective and sometimes painful. It is present moment and vast potential.

For me, my daily paintings are intensely personal, my painting practice is a mindfulness meditation. Through my work, I hope to share with you a sense of awe and wonder I feel about beauty that is all around us in our daily lives. In a small way, I hope my work might awaken the same thing in you.

Today, while I painted this painting, I felt an overwhelming sense of humility. Nine years later, daily painting allows me to feel like a beginner every time I sit down at my easel.

Today (and every day) I offer my gratitude to you for your continued interest in my work. Thank you for allowing me to share it with you.

Best,

Handmade Heart Lollipop (+ 1 million visitors)

Click to view auction - 24 hour auction ends at 10 AM EST, Saturday 2/13
Auction has detail and framed views

Thank you. I wanted to take a moment to share my gratitude that my blog site recently surpassed 1 million visits. (It's actually 97,000+ visits beyond a million, but I didn't realize.)

In honor, I thought I'd re-post something I wrote in December 2014 that I hope might inspire you to pursue the things in your life that bring you the most joy:

"Painting for me is about paying attention and capturing a moment. Contemplative paying attention allows me to have an intimate relationship with my still life subjects. This mutual respect and exchange of energy manifests itself as gesture, movement, weight, edges, texture, and color harmony. I carefully choose from my collection of handmade pottery and local co-op produce, and it is magic to me that my subjects can be simultaneously meditative and animated.

Spending time pushing paint around is a way of life. It enriches my heart and mind and soul, and this motivates me to continue painting as often as I do. Seth Godin posted something this week worth considering:

'Daily: There's a fundamental difference between the things you do every day, every single day, and the things you do only when the spirit moves you. One difference is that once you've committed to doing something daily, you find that the spirit moves you, daily. Rather than having a daily debate about today's agenda, you can decide once that you will do something, and then decide every single day how to do it.'"

Eight years later, thank you so much for your loyal and constant support of my work.

To purchase my work, view my Current Auctions and All Available Paintings.

Best,

Pomegranate in Last Light No. 2 (+ inspiring you inspires me)

In my 8 year blog post the other day, I wrote a bit about how much my daily paintings are personal to me, my painting practice is a mindfulness meditation, and through my work, I share with you the awe and wonder I feel about beauty that is in our daily lives. It inspires me when my paintings awaken a similar sense of awe and wonder in you, and I wanted to share a note and photo that I just got from a fan and collector of my work:

"Abbey -- this beauty [pictured right] I received yesterday in my CSA basket instantly made me think about you. I hope you are well, healthy and happy!"

I often get emails and comments like that and I always love getting them. Thank you.

To purchase my work, view my Current Auctions and All Available Paintings.

Best,

Still Life with Apple & Silver Cup (A Meditation on 8 Years)

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A Meditation for 8 Years
A Meditation on 8 Years

Today marks 8 years since I began making paintings for this blog. Starting with a pink zinnia, I set out to make a painting a day and to see if I could develop a sustainable painting practice for myself. Eight years later, my blog has had more than 900,000 visitors from over 100 countries, and my work is in books, magazines, and private, public, and museum collections on 6 continents. I know these numbers because what comes with using the Internet is data, and, for better or worse, data is a force of nature.

The number I can't tell you is exactly how many daily paintings I've painted since September 23, 2007. Because I don't really know. I sometimes know an approximate number; for fun, my mom has mostly kept track, a lot of the time. But the truth is, I haven't counted because it's not all that important to me.

What is important is what my daily painting practice means to me. Spending time pushing paint around is a way of life. Some days are a challenge, but for eight years, this vocation has enriched my heart and mind and soul, and this inspires me to continue painting as often as I do.

Painting for me is about paying attention and capturing a moment. Contemplative paying attention allows me to have an intimate relationship with my painting subjects. Mutual respect and exchange of energy manifests itself as gesture, movement, weight, edges, texture, and color harmony. I often choose from my collection of handmade pottery or local co-op produce or a scene out my window -- and it is magic to me that my subjects can be simultaneously animated and meditative. Painting is both big and small. It is humble and majestic. It is reflective and sometimes painful. It is present moment and vast potential.

For me, my daily paintings are intensely personal, my painting practice is a mindfulness meditation. Through my work, I hope to share with you a sense of awe and wonder I feel about beauty that is all around us in our daily lives. In a small way, I hope my work might awaken the same thing in you.

Today, while I painted this painting, I felt an overwhelming sense of humility. Eight years later, daily painting allows me to feel like a beginner every time I sit down at my easel.

Today (and every day) I offer my gratitude to you for your continued interest in my work. Thank you for allowing me to share it with you.

Best,

Still Life with Acorn and Silver Pitcher (+ A Meditation on 7 Years)

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A Meditation on 7 Years
A Meditation for 7 Years

Today marks 7 years since I began making paintings for this blog. When I started making a painting a day, I was curious if I could develop a daily painting practice for myself. Now, seven years later, my blog has had over half a million visitors from over 100 countries, and my work is in private and public collections on six continents.

For me, my daily paintings are intensely personal, my painting practice is my meditation, and my work allows me to connect with amazing people like you.

Today, while I painted this painting (in my new north-lit studio -- can you see we're in the woods?), I felt an overwhelming sense of awe and wonder about painting and a mindful practice that continues to allow me to feel like a beginner every time I sit down at my easel. Painting is both big and small. It is both humble and majestic. And, like a little acorn, it is both present moment and vast potential.

Today (and every day) I offer my deepest gratitude to you for your continued interest in my work. Thank you for allowing me to share it with you.

All my best,


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If you're interested: 6th Anniversary “Like” Drive

In honor of my 6th year anniversary of my "a painting a day" blog, I'm giving away 6 signed limited edition prints. I don't sell these anymore, so if you're interested, the details are here.



Detail Views
If you're part of my email list, you'll receive enlarged detail views when I post my larger paintings for my show at Art Essex. There isn't space to post all the detail views here on my blog, so if you'd like direct access to those, sign in here. It's free.

If you're interested, view all my Current Painting Auctions and Available Paintings.

Best,

To receive detail views of my paintings, sign in here (it's FREE):

View Current Painting Auctions
View All Available Paintings

Last Reminder

The deadline for my 5th Anniversary 'Like' and Subscribe Contest is Saturday at 1 PM EST.

I am giving away 5 signed limited edition prints, and twenty people have qualified so far. (Pretty good odds.) Find out more information here and here.

Please share this using the links below, or click to tweet.

Thanks,

If you'd like to see detail views of my paintings, sign in here for direct access (it's FREE):

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Golden Series: Strawberry, Plums, and Peach with Handmade Cup (+ Contest Giveaway !)

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Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of my blog, and I painted this in the afternoon light (it's the third painting in my new Golden Series). I think the afternoon light in my studio is particularly powerful because it reflects some of the Schuylkill River light.

As a THANK YOU for your interest in my work over the last 5 years, I am GIVING AWAY 5 signed prints. The details of the contest are HERE.

ENDING SOON!
The auction for Still Life with Pear Half and Concord Grapes ends today at 5:30 PM EST.

Thanks,

If you'd like to see detail views of my paintings, sign in here for direct access (it's FREE):

View All Available Paintings
Visit Current Painting Auctions

FRAMED VIEW

Candle No. 1

This painting marks one year since I began my painting a day project. Diana:Muse has written a bit about this on her blog. I've also finally been able to get together some photos from my summer trip to Italy. Click here to see them. Enjoy!


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