While traveling, in addition to the Edward Hopper exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston we saw a wonderful exhibition of Fitz Henry Lane and one of his students, Mary Blood Mellon, at the Cape Ann Historical Society in Gloucester, MA. Fitz Henry Lane, a Gloucester artist who's home still stands overlooking the harbor, was a well know luminist in the style of Florida's Martin Johnson Heade. Seeing a major exhibition affects both artists and our culture in ways only the future can tell.

Starting to paint again myself, I warmed up with this little mini-painting.

This little painting is, for me, a "mini" painting. A painting like this sometimes takes only a couple of hours to do. It's a great way to warm up, take a break from a larger painting, learn a new technique or try out a composition. Sometimes it may take all day in an effort to get the mood just right! Some enterprising artists are making their living by selling miniatures and postcard sized paintings on Ebay. Mine are only occasional, come from me directly, and are framed and ready to hang in a simple gold frame.

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