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I’ve been looking forward to painting outside all season, and last Thursday I had blocked out some time to do it. I planned to go down and join in with my shoreline plein air group, but the day dawned so perfect that I felt quiet rather than social, plus, I didn’t feel like spending a lot of time in the car.

We’ve got a new set up for me to paint out in our driveway on nice days, with a big plywood board leaning onto our side porch, so I stayed put here to do my first big piece in that spot. Not having plans –since I had expected to be painting landscapes elsewhere– I intuitively and experimentally worked away, only to surprise myself with painting this head.

Painting is often like prayer for me. Someone through my work was dealing with a young person lying, thinking they were being believed, and getting away with it. The conversation was on my mind, about whether to call them out on it or to innocently play along, and I was inadvertently mulling this over as I painted, and it totally influenced what I ended up painting! Emphasis here is on the protruding nose, the ear too far back, and the vocal chords, with the mouth smugly abstaining from comment.

Instead of calling this piece Pinnochio, I titled it Truth’s Honest Child, because as a praying person, I seek to see everyone the way God made them instead of what the appearance seems to be to human sense.

This painting is 35″x35″ and is for sale, inexpensively, since it is only done on paper instead of canvas or wooden panel. It is quite a divergence from much of my work, partly because I rarely depict the human form, and partly because my work is usually so much more conscious and intentional.

See the whole work above and details below. What do you think?

I’m really looking forward to painting some larger paintings outside this summer in this lovely spot with this makeshift (but practical!) new painting station.

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