There are seasons in my studio workshop. When the weather is unpredictable and rainy, it is the season to set up great life drawing sessions with beautiful models. A group of artists converge and we set up the model stand and lighting. The music plays in the background while we make our initial marks. I'm always startled when the timer rings so the model (and painters) can take a break. There are few things that hold my attention so intensely that 30 minutes can seem like a minute. The morning will fly into noon and we all are surprised that the time has passed. I am tired, but immensely grateful to have spent 3 hours painting. It takes over 10,000 hours of practice to become a master. Let's see....7,687 minus 3 equals....

We had a persimmon tree when I grew up.  My grandmother would make persimmon cookies.  These always are the sign post that we are deep into our fall season.  They are the most intriguing rich dark shade of orange, bordering red.  They glow from within when they are perfectly ripe.

I hosted a wonderful workshop with Ric

Dentinger

(www.ricdentinger.com) this month and we ended up painting these beautiful persimmons.  I enjoyed painting them so much in watercolor that I painted them over and over in oil.  Chris Chapman brought a lovely botanical persimmon soap for me that she made herself and has used her extraordinary botanical illustrations as the graphic design (www.chrischapmanfineart.com).  I used some of my

Fuji

persimmons in a stir fry for dinner.  Yum!  I think I've done a fine job

immersing

myself in this luscious fall fruit.