I'm finally going to tackle the task of learning how to edit and update my website. I'm sure I'll make lots of mistakes before I get it right, but what's the point of having a heading for "new works" unless I keep it updated.

    I had last updated this page several days after Obama got elected. I had felt a little relaxed, as if good and right had triumphed and I could forget about the larger world for a while and spend quiet times in the woods. No such luck.

    Anyway, I have returned to working in egg tempera on paper. I love using the pure pigments again. The colors are so seductive, especially the blue pigments. Linseed oil darkens them and they lose their glow. Using the pigments again reminds me of having a visit from some old friend who has been traveling for many years. We pick up the conversation where we last left off.

    I remember a bank where I used to have a savings account. In order to get to the tellers' windows, one had to pass by an array of portraits of all the dead bank presidents. It seems, these days, that I am inventing a crowd of imaginary people. I would like to frame them all in baroque gold leaf frames and line them up in a portrait gallery.That would be a pretty expensive joke!