2013 certainly seemed to fly by and here it is almost at the end of January 2014. Before I know it 2015 will be here, yet it’s been a slow start this month as I endeavor to get caught up on a few things including necessary 2013 bookwork which I generally have completed by now. ( Not my favorite task, but a part of the job of being an artist.) I made a comment on the art biz blog  that posed the question “If you were the boss and had you as an employee, would you be happy with your performance, or would you fire yourself?” I quipped that I found a pink slip on my desk. Although kidding I recognize as it is with any business endeavor there’s a need of focusing actions to completion.

With that in mind I wanted to share with you my Guadalupe river plein air painting (not for sale) that is the basis of my next studio painting currently in progress. A while back my wife and I along with a group of friends rented some cabins along the Guadalupe River in Texas. This scene was directly out the back of the property and I set up my easel and painted. It was perfect weather and I liked how the late afternoon light was catching the fall tree against the backdrop of the canyon wall which was in shadow.

Additionally in focusing actions to completion, this study and the forth coming studio painting will also be the subject of my next art instructional eBook, which I have wanted to do for some time. I currently have one eBook titled: Creating a Sense of Place in Landscape Painting and this will make my second book.

My goal is to provide the book in more than one format including ePub to make it available on different electronic devices. If I get all the technology right the book will also contain some short video clips. I did a test run in ePub format and was able to view a video clip on an iPhone after adding it to iBooks and it worked. However it did not work on using an ePub reader on a PC. Needless to say this project will require some technological testing.

Like my first eBook which included a photo sequence of the painting from start to finish, this eBook will also show a sequential progression of the studio painting from start to finish.