In June, I went to Messejana in Portugal, to spend 12 days in a creative sphere. What a great experience!

Trompe-l'œil [tråmp løj] is french for "deceive the eye", and is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions.

"Buinho is a place where artists, makers, researchers, and other creatives can work on their projects in the unique rural environment.

Through most of April, I have been working on a new still life. For a long time, I've been wanting to paint Magnolias. Not really a flower person, I can't get anything to grow. But there is something about Magnolias... They blossomed in Florence when I was there, and it was just so incredibly beautiful.

This February, I left the snowy hills of Norway to go to sunny Florence. Not a bad choice!