It has been busy around here today (which was yesterday, the 24th). Big gathering at the house; holiday dinner, preparations, etc. My mother-in-law’s birthday, if she were still alive. She was a great lady, who I wish was still around. Lots of emotion here. You probably get the picture.

I didn’t have time to make much progress in my portrait. I started my picture with a grid using a straight-edge and a French curve, inspired by the grids Joan Miró used in his paintings.

From out of nowhere, it seems, I had the further inspiration to turn my design into a portrait of my brother Michael. Mike is autistic, profoundly retarded and has never spoken, although he makes noise, like grunting, yelling and so on.

Today I used some of the symbols that I tried out on previous paintings. My placement doesn’t make too much sense, which fits right in with my inability to make sense of what is going on in my brother’s head.  I don’t want to rush, so I will let this sit overnight and see if anything pops up at me when I look at it tomorrow.

Happy holidays, everyone!