This summer I completed a new project — a mural commissioned for a rooftop (penthouse) patio in Toronto — oil painting on concrete wall — measuring approximately 10 ft x 12 ft.

It was a really great learning opportunity on many levels. 

I've discovered I really enjoy working in oils. This is actually my first work in oil painting — until now I'd been painting primarily with encaustic (wax) paint. I feel like I'm finding something exciting here.... nothing is ever perfect, but it feels like I'm finding a clarity in my direction as a painter. I love the way oil works too. One can be much more physical and gestural. Very exciting.

I've found sketching to be enormously helpful too, something I've never done a lot of with my other work.... I've been using Sketchbook Pro on my ipad which is a really great drawing tool and I think it really helped the process.

Painting on concrete is a sure-fire way to destroy brushes however. I went through a number of them. 

Working outdoors in the full sun was challenging but a reclaimed sombrero which I found on my way to work one day helped whenever the wind wasn't trying to blow me off the top of the building!

The soles of both my boots split right off the bottoms to the point that unless I wanted the boots as slippers I had to tape them back together — hence the new look I'm sporting. Could it have been the heat burning into the concrete that melted the glue on the boots?

Allow me to be vain about the photo — it was shot with a wide angle lens — I think it makes me look much wider than I am in reality. However, since the point of the shot was to depict the work rather than the artist, I think it does an excellent job.

Many many thanks to my friends and supporters.

cheers — A