Two more new pieces....

Here is another new piece, "Carrion", that was recently completed.  For inspiration I began with a photograph of some trees, one almost completely bare and probably dying, which started me off for the tree in this painting.  I then began to add a couple more trees lower down on the canvas only to realize that they didn't fit and had to remove them.  I still felt that there was something lacking so I added two crows circling the tree.  The title, while a bit morbid, fits with the presence of the crows, the dead tree, and makes further suggestion as to what could be lying at the base of the tree if only we could see it.

This piece, "Path Around the Rock", was actually begun ages ago and got pushed aside for some reason.  I decided that now was the time to finish it and am very happy with the end product.  I am always a bit taken with the patterns that I can find in the sand made by water and bits of debris, this painting is representative of those patterns and the small disruption of them made by the rock.

Pomodoro

If you are on the mailing list for Robert Genn's Twice Weekly Letters you may have read the one for October 25th, "Pomodoro Technique".  I found the tips in this letter particularly useful and have begun to apply the technique as a means of keeping myself focused.  The Pomodoro Technique is explained a bit here:

"The Pomodoro Technique is a time-management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.  The timer is set for 25 minutes and then you focus and go to work on your predetermined job.  At the end of the time period, the alarm goes off and you take a five minute break.  Then you start on your next Pomodoro.  If your Pomodora gets interrupted by a phone call or a request to go down and drain the lake, you'll have to stop and restart your Pomodoro later."  Robert Genn

A little kitchen timer is the type suggested, but I find the ticking too distracting, so I use the timer on my phone.

I picked out this photo, taken on a trip to Tofino, to use as inspiration on my first pomodoro painting

I haven't been very diligent in keeping track of how many pomodoros I'm doing, and my breaks are definitely longer than 5 minutes, but so far I think I am at about 7 sessions and have the following to show for it:

Here's hoping the next 7 pomodoros go as well.