These past couple of weeks I have been completely consumed with finishing up a portrait commission and also painting for a show in northern California for the beginning of September. Of course, painting with a deadline always makes things take that much longer. It looks like these next two weeks are going to be a bit busy.

My days right now seem to be melting into each other: Wake up. Coffee. Into the car for the half hour drive to the studio. 12 hours of painting and fussing around the studio. Back in the car to home. Sleep. Wake up and start over again. Every once in a while I'll get something unexpected thrown into the mix: the odd homeless person walking in, car failing to live up to my expectations of being a car, the challenging and comical effort of trying to move a six by twelve foot painting by myself, etc.

The good thing about this is that I am in full create mode. The best things usually happen when I'm completely involved like this and each day I look forward to shutting myself away in my studio to see what will come of it. Granted, some days are better than others. But I am a firm believer that struggle is just a means of pushing myself beyond my comfort zone.

I've been updating my website with the new paintings as I finish them. Please feel free to see them at www.benjaminanderson.com. Here you can see an example of the scale of portraits I'm working on and an image of my self-portrait in water.