What's going on

Good evening to you, if you're reading this (or morning, or day). Just finishing up a good weekend of seeing friends, doing some music related activities and finishing this painting. This a large painting; 30" x 40 "canvas, India ink and acrylic. I began to think about imagery similar to this on the the way to work one morning while preparing for a show I had in December. This is a little different than the original vision I had for this. Originally there were three boys, each painting their tree of leaves, without any assistance from  animals. I originally drew all of them in, but after much consideration and gesso, I decided to scratch the two other boys, and add animals that I associate with Autumn. For now I will title this "First of Autumn". Fall has a fair amount of magic of it's own; with the other worldly colors, stripping of the foliage, and just the feeling I seem to get during the season. I enjoy working like this, using white, black, and just a small amount of blocked in colors. I have five new canvases to start on, so I think I will continue with this combination for a while. During my first inspiration for this I was listening to the Beatles, "Magical Mystery Tour", so I may try that again to see if it will trigger any new images. But I realize their are no magic formulas, but I love that album anyway. Thanks for taking a moment to look at this post. Cheers

Happy after New Year/ Spanish Angel

 Pardon the glare on these photos, still using poor lighting and a crappy old camera. This is the finished product of a piece/gift I did for a first grader at my school who lost his father in a fire. The piece is called "Padre, Heroe", to honor the man who sacrificed his own life saving his family in the blaze. Jose, his son immediately began to draw a male angel with three crosses, and called the drawing his father. I wanted to do something for the family, so the teacher told me that an angel would be a good idea for a card/drawing. The boy has remained a joy to be around, and it was a true blessing to see he and his family's smiles upon receiving the drawing today. I aspired to keep the drawing very child-friendly, almost Dora inspired, but I ended up going with more of a comic book style only slightly stylizing the angel to keep it cartoon-like and a little less realistic. My wife wrote a few verses from Psalm 91 in Spanish, that was appropriate for this piece;

Psalms 91:9 ^ Because you have said, I am in the hands of the Lord, the Most High is my safe resting-place.

Psalms 91:10 ^ No evil will come on you, and no disease will come near your tent.

Psalms 91:11 ^ For he will give you into the care of his angels to keep you wherever you go.

Psalms 91:12 ^ In their hands they will keep you up, so that your foot may not be crushed against a stone.

I really enjoy doing art for reasons like this. Now I'll go back to staring at this other canvas and see what happens...