Today, during yet another snowstorm, I spent a quiet day indoors planning and preparing for my spring term oil painting course at NOA Gallery in Groton, MA. I'm quite excited to start this course again; it's been a while since it was offered and I've revamped it and modernized it. That sounds odd, but the fact is that a few years ago I didn't have an iPad, and while I've always made use of the internet in the classroom to show images (thank you, Google Art Project!), there are a few ways that I use digital media now that I didn't before. Primarily, I now have an extensive library of excerpts and tutorials from Artist Daily and the North Light Shop, and several really super instructional videos. I'm also getting more into blogging, which is to say that along with becoming increasingly verbose, I've also found some wonderful, wonderful art blogs. I've already mentioned James Gurney's blog, gurneyjourney.blogspot.com (worth mentioning again); today I direct you to Ann Trusty and John Hulsey's blog The Artist's Road http://www.theartistsroad.net/ . If you love being outdoors, and painting, then check out this generous collection of advice about plein air painting.

Anyway, when I got to the end of my syllabus, to my last topic, Mixed Media--in which I get to throw out all the conventions and play around with all the amazing materials available now--I revisited the website of one of my favorite mixed media artists, Nick Bantock. Remember the craze of the Griffin and Sabine trilogy? Well, I was delighted to discover that Mr. Bantock has a blog, so please check it out: http://nick-bantock.blogspot.com/ . His unique voice is such fun to read!

Don't we all love snow days? While snow fell silently outside my studio window, I was actually productive (and warm) inside. I started this as a small pastel sketch for what I thought would be a larger painting, but the colors were so much fun that I just kept going. I have three neon pastels in my collection that have never been used because in most situations they are simply too lurid. Last fall, however, I saw a sky that was so unbelievably saturated with color that those neons actually work! This is a view from Kimballs Fruit Farm in Pepperell, MA--high on a hill with great views in all directions. Almost helps me remember what the world looks like under all this snow!