by noon the two skylights magnify the sun and even two fans aren’t enough. So I go early. These days my daughter, Mari, joins me until she heads off down the street to her job, which starts at 11.

she makes modpodge covers, I paint on my big canvases.

my little student tells me, of one portrait, “it was nice, but now it’s not.” She is six, and she is so correct. I have to learn to STOP before I ruin things.

the cop paintings need a psychological truth to each portrait. I am digging in to find it.