My first daily painting practice came about in the late summer of 1999 with a series of small daily paintings. My inspiration partly grew out of the fact that my mother had just been diagnosed with breast cancer, and a daily expression of creativity seemed a good way for me to work through the personal emotional pain of her illness. Further catalyst came from the frustrating fact that my “day job” was taking up most of my time, preventing me from getting any work done in my studio. Therefore, in an effort to “wet my brush every day,” I embarked on a practice of creating a single small painting each day. I set for myself basic parameters: each painting would be about the size of a playing card; the media would be watercolor.

I continued with my daily watercolor ritual for two years, releasing myself from the ritual when extended travel took me away from home and my studio for some time.

I put the practice aside for several years, then returned to it again in the late summer of 2005. This time the parameters were slightly different: the scale for the paintings would be a four-and-a-half-inch square; I would complete two per day: one in color, and one in black and white -- an “echo” of the one in color; the media would again be watercolor, with some mixed media allowed.

This daily practice continued for a full year. Several months’ worth of paintings I mounted on large “calendar” canvases, which were part of my 2006 “Revelations & Reflections” exhibition. Pictured to the left is the month of December 2005.

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