This painting, I think, is done – I went by my studio space and decided to finish it – if anything can really be finished.   Orginally, I named it “The Uprising” but I think it ought to really be named “Truth” because that’s what I feel when I look at the painting.

Truth 40" x 60" Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Canvas - Marshall Sponder

Been very busy lately – and couple of projects that I had to handle make it really hard to focus on painting, but one project may be a gallery space to handle artists – it’s  still young idea and I can’t talk about it, yet, but I’m hopeful.

Anyway – it’s strange how in my social network of friends I get many opinions about things like travel – and how some of my friends think a trip to France for me this spring is good, others think it’s bad, and I’ve tended to crowd source opinions, not to obsolve myself of making decisions, but simply to have the best set of opinions and facts before deciding.

I realized, as long as I’m willing to take responsibility for making my own decisions, there’s nothing wrong with getting several opinions; one of my friends who studies Reiki and lives in Germany, says a trip to France feels stressful, and recommends against it.   I didn’t seek that opinion, but I’d be a fool to discount it.

On the other hand, another friend suggested London, where I’ve never been, and the vibes seem better for a trip there.

My painting is about that decision making process – it’s about how I come to decide what to do, how to take action, and my feelings around deciding.

Oh, by the way, this is an iPhone painting, but I’ve been working on it for a few weeks, on and off.

Sad when someone as talented as Melendez, who wanted to be a court painter in Spain, during the 1770′s, only not to succeed, and die in poverty.

Sad.

Just thinking about Jean Baptiste Greuze “Aegina Visted by Jupiter” here at Metropolitan.

Aegina is unfinished, and I like it that way, better.

How much good painting and natural feeling gets covered up by trying to paint to please someone else, like the French Royal Academy.

And how lucky we are, Greuze never finished this painting.

What more did it need?