Tomatoes and tornados

Back to the tomatoes and the Scottish dirk.

Added the tomatoes this morning. After lunch going back to place the leaves.

Listening to The Forgery of Venus as I paint. I'm thinking about the protagonist's yearning to work in an time of faith and meaning, a pre-ironic age and about the marriage of technique and skill with inspiration and creativity in the service of portraiture. Good times.

Yesterday I worked on the Tornado (Aftermath)

Added pine needles and general yard trash. Worked on the brick lattice, the garage wall, and added paint to both figures. The faces don't read well on this photo, but I'm working carefully there. At the end of the day I cleaned my brushes and hated it, but after dinner, it didn't look too bad. 'Just keep swimming,' as the little fish says in Finding Nemo, 'just keep swimming.'