For the past 15 years or so, Lanny Little (http://lannylittle.com) and I have met, usually once a week, to play pool. Pre-Covid, it was more of a social event at the Bellingham Bar & Grill, where we would play for 1-1/2 hours, then join the beer Friday table for good food, good friends, and good times. Now we are fortunate to play by invitation at an undisclosed location, gratis. I do miss the “before times” when social gatherings were the norm and we gathered and embraced our friends without reservation.

Lanny and I play eight ball, strict call shot, and the one ball and fifteen ball have to be sunk in opposing side pockets, which makes for a much more strategic game. We are pretty well matched and both enjoy the competition–some weeks it’s all Lanny, some weeks all Ron, some weeks pretty even split. My pool game is kind of like when I attempted golf, the improvement outcome is not commensurate with the time and effort spent, my game is somewhat inconsistent. The quality of my game depends on how unconciously I play, the less I think about it, the better I play

The above image is mostly a self portrait, once again painting a slice of my life. Egg Tempera is such an interesting, challenging medium, I find myself constantly drawn to its unique visual effects, while being repelled by the logistical sudio difficulties of using egg yolk as medium. Luckily I have a functioning fridge in my work space which can keep the mixed pigments fresh and paintable for up to a week. The finished paintings on smooth panel have a lustrous luminosity that I have never achieved with, acrylic, watercolor or oil. The digital image your viewing on screen pales in comparison to the actual painting. The below image is a painting from about 10 years ago, Acrylic on Canvas. https://www.patternart.net/people-places/

After a couple a years of mostly commission work in my studio, I have been enjoying being able to indulge myself with more personal work, such as a studio window sign (see below) smaller quick watercolor paintings, and painting more ambitious personal studies in Egg Tempera. I am working towards securing more commission and exhibition opportunities in 2023.

Thank you for reading my Blog post. If you havent already, feel free to sign up for my mailing list to keep up to date with PatternArt Studio news and events. Good time of year for self reflection as the short days and inclement weather keep us more indoors,