Tons of Spare Time

I haven't officially started working since we moved to VA, so I have had a lot of extra time on my hands. I have been busy getting settled in and looking for a job, and still don't have much of a social life here yet. Plus I have around 10 hours each day to fill up by myself before Abe gets home form work. When we were in Utah my dad was teaching me how to oil paint. He is the most amazing artist! My favorite paintings of his are his red rock paintings, and I was dying for him to teach me how he does them. So as you can see I have started on my first red rock painting. It's a lot harder to paint without my dad here to help me and give pointers so I have started sending him updates of my painting so he can still teach me by phone. It is working great and I feel like it is finally starting to come together. I still have a long way yet till I am finished though. I realize now that painting is a lot harder than it looked when I watched my dad do it, and it takes more patience than any other hobby I could think of, but I am having a lot of fun doing it.

This was my first painting. I just completed it before we left to come out here. I think one of the hardest things for me is knowing when I should stop and say it's all done. I haven't decided what I should paint next so if anyone has any good photographs (preferably not with people in them, I haven't learned that yet) send them my way.