"Now is a good time."

That's the sentence I often use when I need to do anything from the dishes to the next huge painting.

Insomnia, about 6 x 6", mixed media on paper, $30. 

"Why not now?" I ask myself. "Now is good." I almost never feel like it, but now is good.

On that note, I'm off to do some grocery shopping, because today is warmish and tomorrow will be "Dante's 9th Circle of Hell" type cold, and I don't paint well when hungry, so, yeah. Now is good. In grocery shopping as in art, waiting for inspiration basically never works.

I'll have to say it all over again when I get home in an hour and have paintings to make. I wish I could say there was a point at which I no longer needed to push myself to start things, but it's looking as if the best I can do is get better at pushing. I'll report back if that begins to change.

Done! Now I can make that BLT.

In It Together, 10 x 10" oil on canvas, $275

Apparently, as a still life painter, I'm nocturnal: this was finished around 2:45 this morning.

It has about a dozen titles. I'm only telling you one of them because I want to see what people come up with on their own for what it could mean and what might be happening in the little narrative, here. Everyone's answer will be right; that's what I love about these little paintings.

Here's where I have to credit my inspiration: this painting would never have happened if I weren't friends with Jennifer Lowery. <3

This does get my "living less safely" classification, mainly because it's never "safe" to make art. But I was also challenging myself. Those background greens and violets? All looked like mud on my palette. And I think painting deep red objects is about the trickiest thing there is. It's even harder than getting landscape-greens to work, and that's saying something. I knew that, and chose to paint tomatoes anyway.

So I'm happy. And drinking a lot of coffee.

Petit Four Painting (the Second)

Raspberry Petit Four, 5 x 5" oil on canvas by Tracie Thompson

Another of my series for La Patisserie. Finished fresh this morning. Available at $40 at my ArtFire Shop.

Barn swallows in the kitchen

This is at 1214 Van Buren Ave. in St. Paul; the house is a cute little remodel, up for sale.

 The design was my idea -- something soft and elegant to add character to this kitchen without overwhelming it. The colors are taken from the wood and countertops already in the room.

Total working time was about 12 hours. It's acrylic paint and a lot of water-based professional-grade faux finishing glaze.