Painting the Colors of Life

I was supposed to be painting a portrait of the Williams' family little Zuchor dog, Lady Diamond.  Her fur is long and white and she is quite lovely.  I guess I was a bit intimidated about painting her, so I just thinned some oil paint and had fun with this little abstract.  THEN I was able to get to the more serious work of really painting Lady Diamond.

I couldn't believe how much fun I had when I had no objective -- next time I need to paint something that intimidates me or when I don't know how to get started on a particular painting, I will thin some paint and just have fun with an abstract.