This is the first year in 18 years that I haven’t had a child in school. It feels great to be moving on to the next phase of our lives, but I still love learning, and as fall is starting, it makes me think about educational goals that I might set for myself as I have a little more time in the winter to do that kind of thing.

The goal that I have set isn’t going to take all winter, but I am excited about it, for the next 30 days at least. I have decided to paint one 6×6 picture every single day for 30 days. I set a time limit, although a couple of these pictures took longer because once I get going I start adding more detail, but the time limit is 30 minutes.

I have been hanging these pictures up on my wall next to my painting table as soon as I’m finished. It is in my dining room, so I see the pictures many times a day, this is a nice reminder to sit down and paint. I also enjoy just looking at them. They’re not masterpieces by any means, but they are fun and relaxing.

I have also decided to get out of my comfort zone for the most part and paint subject matter that maybe isn’t as inspiring to me. It just has to be something I think I can draw and paint in 3o minutes. This has actually been fun, and although I start off not really inspired or wanting to paint that particular subject sometimes, by the time I’m done I’ve found I have really enjoyed myself and the painting has been more relaxing than I had anticipated since it wasn’t something I thought I would want to paint.

Because these pictures are hanging up in my dining room, everyone looks at them when we eat dinner, or just gather for whatever. I have had several people walk over and look and study the pictures. It’s been fun just to see them look and enjoy, and once in a while someone will comment on their favorite one.

As fall gets into full swing, I am thinking I’ll probably get back to studying Chinese. I also want to pick up the learning to draw people that I had started late in the spring, but as summer got into full swing, other things too precedence for a while. I have been working on my website as you can see, and I am going to start getting more products besides my different subscriptions uploaded so there are individual items available for purchase as well. As the month progress, I’ll share the various different quick practice pieces I’m doing.