Since mid-July, 2009, I have been working on these two large canvases, (one painting), of toy animals. My models are in two separate shallow boxes on the floor, one for each canvas. Though I often photograph my models for my own enjoyment, (or for this blog), I never paint from the photographs I've taken. I always paint from observation. Working from observation has been challenging on canvases this size. Though the composition meets in the middle of the two canvases, the boxes of models do not. Instead, they are centered in the middle of each canvas where I can hover over them and paint from the center, radiating outward. It is only with luck and fate that they hope to connect visually at the edges.