Another day, another painting

I've been inspired to paint a lot lately.  It's been nice.  Painting is a great way for me to focus on something other than life and just relax and create for a while.  Today I went to the North Hollywood park and did some work.  I go to the park quite often, usually walking the mile to get there, a mile around and then a mile home for exercise.  This time I drove so that I could haul all my stuff with me, including books, paints and two canvases.  The first one below I started working on many years ago and it was all black until recently.  I'm not sure how I feel about the whitish strip near the top, so that might change before I'm done.

The second one is one that I just started.  I found canvases that are pre-painted black at the art store the other day.  This is super exciting for me since I do so much work with black paint.  I wish I had taken a picture of this one yesterday before I started working on it again because it felt kind of done in just a few moments.  As it is, I'm anticipating more work on it.

 This last one is another one that I started a while back.  Not really sure where it is going, but I'm enjoying the big globs of semi-hard paint that came out of my can today.

What was interesting (and frustrating) about the park today was that there was this bee that simply would not leave me alone.  I tried walking away, but it was me I wanted.  I even had to move locations it was so bothersome.  I thought I was free of it at the new spot, but then it attacked me again as soon as I opened up my paints.  Humph!  Since I've been talking to Jenny about meditation lately, I thought I would give it a try.  So I laid down and put my shirt on top of my face and tried to focus on my breathing and not the bee.  Talk about a test!  Well I guess I did alright since the bee went away eventually.  However, the moment I started painting again it came right back.  Talk about a critic! 

In other news, I've been reading Judith Weston's Directing Actors.  It was recommended to me by Tizia via her professor and I'm finding it to be a very good read.  It talks a lot about the internal struggles that an actor goes through and how to get around them.  Judith teaches classes in the area, so once I finish her book, I'm hoping to take one.