So Excited about my Current Painting and a Bucket of Fudge

A lot of artists do portraits of famous personalities that they have never met. I assume they have never met them so they rely on photographs and either stick rather closely to the photograph, modify it somewhat, or completely change it to accommodate their individual expression. It has never occurred to me to paint a portrait of someone I don't know. Recently I decided there was one personality I greatly admire that I haven't seen a lot of paintings of and I thought I would give it a try. I am enjoying the experience and am using a number of photographs to get the likeness but the painting is all mine-my expression, color, and brushwork. I hope it turns out as well as I want. Painting is always a crap shoot between skill and what happens in the process. So far, so good!

Whenever I see a report in the newspaper that politics are working out the way I want them to I become very excited. I see hope for what is important to me and I like to discuss these things with my husband. The other day I mentioned an improvement and he said the results are based on a poll and you can never tell about them. He said one party probably calls up twelve members of their party and tells them to answer yes on five questions and they will get a bucket of fudge in the mail. So much for polls and good news. I think I will just believe the poll results. That makes me happy.