I'm trying to use up a tube of yellow ochre paint that broke open. I mixed some with gesso and painted over some canvases and started playing around with some contrasting paint and alcohol on top. I really like the way some are shaping up with that golden color underneath. I'm not sure where it's going, but we'll see. I'm reading a book on creativity by Nita Leland who has some good ideas. I practiced some drawing today, per her suggestion, and I'm going to set up a still life and do value drawings of the individual pieces in different view points and light. The idea is to then cut them up and reassemble them into a design. It kind of sounds like that notan idea I wanted to try in order to work on my design skills. We went to the lawyer's office today and picked up his letter for the tenants (although I thought ours sounded better but he suggested we not give that to them because it was getting too personal--not ugly--just personal). We stopped by the library on the way home and got stranded for a little while because of torrential rains! We sure needed it, but I could have done without the lightning. I got another book on abstract design and Alice Neel. I just love her portraits. They have such strength and are almost a psychological study of the individual. Who says women can't be great artists? I guess H. W. Janson, Art Historian from the dark ages. I checked my old history book just to make sure and, of course, she wasn't in there. I couldn't find one woman artist in it. No wonder I have such a sense of insecurity after going through art school with that book. I hope the female students today aren't being brainwashed like that.