Thankyou for posting the photos of those paintings. That one there truly is hyper-real. I like your professor's work too. I can do both (impressionistic and hyper real) depending on my mood and/or my time. So, you've taken a few lessona have you? How did that go for you? Got anything to show us?

I've been teaching art to a student every time I visit the Valley - usually every December, and then again in March. She's a hyper realist. She'll go places.

I like the Valley cause it's WARM! I also have some very dear friends down there. One of THE BEST bird sanctuaries in all of America is in the Valley, just a few miles from where I usually stay. Just like up here - one of THE BEST refuges in all of N America is just a half hour from where I live. I like to sneak into quiet, wind-sheltered little spots in or along a pond to paint outdoors. The birding is great and the quiet solitude is, well, SO UPLIFTING I could.....uh, give thanks forever and a day, not to mention stay out all day, oh, and yes, camp out overnight and paint again all the next day, or sometimes just sit back and read a book depending on how tired I am - you know, make a weekend of it before going back to the busy world of work.

I have access to a few canoes in the Valley now and am thinking to do a bit down there this spring, binocs in hand of course. Oh, I'll probably do a bit of golfing, too, as my friend loves to do that. The good thing about that is: while he's out there messing up his game, I get to glass some of the wildlife that all those water ponds on golf courses attract. Depending on the day, sometimes the birding on a golf course is better than in a refuge.

I've come to a point in my art now where I would like to go on from painting landscapes and wildlife to painting what I feel about what I experieince in life. I'm self taught and will learn as I go in regards to that.