It's Sunday afternoon. The sun is shining on my patio. I look out through the back windows and think, "It's beautiful out there today. Look how the light is shining on our roses. If I were an artist I would paint that scene."

Ok, so I am an artist and I have been working on organizing my studio so I can find my materials when inspiration strikes. Apparently, it is striking right now. 1,2,3, go. Where is my sketchbook? On the shelf, lined up with the other moleskine sketchbooks. Can I easily find it? I find it quickly. Now, I look around for my pre-assembled box of art/painting stuff, amazingly I find on top of my desk. According to what I am reading in the engineering textbook, all my watercolor journaling tools should be stored together. Now if look in the basket under the desk for my paints, they are way in the bottom of my basket. I locate them after a few moments of searching and take everything into the other room with the view of the roses.

I sit down to paint the view. No pencil is to be found. I have just flunked my first run of organized painting. Oh well, I grab a pencil, sketch the scene loosely and paint for an hour or two. It is quickly apparent that my painting isn't perfect, but I am happy. My intention is to paint regularly ,explore more new ideas, and improve my techniques. In today's painting I wanted to work on having a range of dark, light and medium tones in my painted images and I wanted to concentrate on contour drawing. I have done both. A good time was had by all.