I may be nearing the end of working on this painting. Some say they’ve finished a painting. I feel that a painting isn’t finished, it’s just abandoned. The way to know that it is time to sign it and move on is that there are only minuscule changes at the end of each studio session. This is what’s known as an asymptote. Imagine that each day, as I begin painting, I am halfway finished with it. Continue forward through the days and weeks, and the realization is that it will never be finished since it will only ever be halfway done. There will always be another edge to soften, a color to shift, or detail to be added. At some point, the changes become infinitesimally small each day, so I make a decision to set the painting aside and begin the next piece. I am approaching that point with this painting.

While I’m working in my studio, my garden is working hard and making large gains, opening up new blooms every day. I’m loving all the pastel colors blooming in my deck planters at the moment. The rhododendron in the near distance was given to me as a gift when it was less than a foot tall, for hosting a garden tour for the Rhododendron Society a number of years ago. It clearly is happy to be here and so am I.

These daily studio notes lead toward my 2026 solo exhibitions in New York City and  Poughkeepsie, NY.