The year is winding down and it's time to look back and see what kind of year it was.  All in all 2015 has been a good year.  I've got a good job with some great people.  I've cleared away some debts.  I'm seeing progress in my drawing, painting, and photography.

Last December I wrote that I wanted to "pay attention to personal routines and rituals...to reconnect" with the seasons.  I think I've been able to do that this year.  It took some time to find the rhythm, but I'm getting there.  The biggest change is my walking.  Morning or evening, depending on the weather, I walk for about an hour, going to or coming home from work.  the slow pace gives me a chance to acclimate to the shift in my schedule.  Either waking up and shifting into work mode or letting go of the rush and stress and slowing down.  It's quiet time when my mind can wander, when I can really look at my surroundings.  Look at shells on the shore, bird feathers in the grass, colors in the sunrise or fog lifting off the water. 

As winter closed in I decided to try to embrace it and bought some cross-country skis so I could could get myself out to look at the world in snow.  But the snow has had other plans.  So far it's been too warm for anything but rain.  That won't last though.  Not here.  In fact, as I'm writing this snow and sleet have started to fall and the wind is wiping around the edges of the house.

2015 seems to have set me on a good path, now to discover where it will lead me in 2016.

I'm still drawing magnolia branches.  I want to do another painting over the holiday and am trying to observe and learn what I can.  I find them beautiful.  There's something so interesting in the way they branch and zigzag, the bark spotted with green and blue, the soft but sturdy flowers, the red of the new growth.

I hope you enjoy them. I'm sure there'll be more to come.

I've worked hard this week to fit in time to paint and keep up with my daily drawing.  It can be a challenge to fit everything in, but I had good results this time.

This is the finished painting.  I may go back and touch up some edges, but for the most part it's done.  I tried something a little different this time, bringing in more of the tree, which gave me room to play with composition.  I love the dark mini-branches against the blue sky.  Maybe I need to play with that a little more.

For my daily drawings I focused on magnolias.  Trying to learn the branch forms and colors.  I took a long walk in the Arboretum on Saturday.  Stopping at the magnolias to examine the bark and form and colors.  How nice it would be to have more time for that kind of work and research. 

I recently started a painting of a magnolia tree.  Shortly after starting I found myself "stuck".  I wasn't sure how to accomplish what I saw in my mind for the tree.  The flowers I knew, but the tree that's another thing.  So for my sketches this week, I've been looking at trees. 

I hope to make some time this week to jump back into that painting.  The only real way to get where I want to go is to get the brushes out and start practicing.  Until then, I'll sketch and study.