"Shasta Sunrise Opus 1"

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I have received many e-mails asking why I have not sent out an email in the last two days. I am an art teacher in the San Francisco Bay area and every week I travel 300 miles to teach on Wednesdays and Thursdays. My students are an inspiration to me, and although I have moved to Shasta, I still am dedicated to coaching them.

Since I came home, we have been buried in four feet of snow. This morning, just for a moment, the sky opened up and there was Shasta in her new winter coat. Spectacular! I quickly captured it just for you. As I laid the final stroke, the clouds reappeared and it started to snow again.

Painting has to do with overcoming obstacles. Painting constantly challenges us to set new heights and discover new ideas. It gives us a clear opportunity to strive for the best that we can do, and then continues to challenge us to do more. It is this drive that keeps us returning to the studio. Think about the times that you’ve learned a craft and once you achieved the skills of that craft you became bored. Painting is more than a craft because of the creative interaction that happens within the artist, the paint and the canvas. This is the lure that painting has had for humans over the centuries.

To the viewer, what matters is the end product. To you, what matters is the process; the experience of shaping your painting. The viewer does not concern himself with your techniques. He just wants to be inspired or moved by what you have created. If you are to move or inspire others, you must be moved and inspired yourself. The best way create a masterpiece is for you to care about the subject and paint from your heart.

Be moved and the viewer will be, too.

Please let me know what you think Stefan_Baumann@yahoo.com