To grow really strong at something, it helps tremendously to focus on just one area. It makes sense that when all your efforts stay in a single niche, you’ll become very good at it.
But I find it SO hard to focus on painting just ONE thing (or even in one medium)! As a photographer, I don’t struggle with this, and I really love how I’m able to specialize and refined my craft by being really good at what I love to do the most (which is why you don’t see me offering family, wedding, or older child photo shoots!)
In order to arrive at that place with my drawings and paintings, my plan is to paint on one single focus for an entire month. I’m calling it my 30 day project. January’s focus is on light, so I’m now halfway through 30 Days Of Light. I spent the past eight years observing light through the lens of my camera, shooting daily for several of those years, and I am sure all the photographers will agree when I say that process really changes the way you look at everything. You literally always see the light. ✨
And it is incredible! So now, I want to see how that translates to canvas, when I intentionally make light the heart of my paintings. (This project is in addition to a year-long weekly mini project that I’m doing with a group of painters around the world, lead by Jed Dorsey.)
The first two paintings of light are finished! They each have a bright sunburst filtering in through the trees. The first, “Face The Sun” is 9x12” on canvas panel and was inspired by a recent hike.





I just finished my second light-inspired painting, “Eternal Happening” last night. I painted from a photo I took of our country road on a fall morning in 2019, when the sun rose up through some fog. It was so golden and beautiful! I’d been wanting to paint it for a while and tinkered with the idea a few times. This acrylic painting expresses that light, bursting through the trees. It is painted on 9x12” cradled wood panel. The piece is named after this quote, which I find very inspiring:
“May you realize that the shape of your soul is unique, that you have a special destiny here, that behind the facade of your life there is something beautiful and eternal happening.” —Ian Morgan Cron
Canvas prints of these paintings are now available in my fine art prints shop. Buy Face The Sun here and Eternal Happening here. Which one is your favorite?





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