My painting teacher and I had a lovely discussion in which she pointed out that my paintings are methodically constructed and lovingly adventurous but somehow fall short. She likened them to a student learning to speak French who told hilarious jokes--at a first grade vocabulary. Clever crafting and deep understanding, but a lack of tools to execute at the same level.

This really resonated for me, not just with my paintings, but with my illustrations too.

I think I'd hit a roadblock with my toolkit and didn't know where to go.

Luckily, painting has added some tricks to the bag. Here's to hoping for some good digital drawing and illustration in the coming weeks.