On a Roll with Painting

It's been great to be back in my studio again.  I've finished seven paintings since I started painting again in January and have two half finished.  I'm focusing mainly on figures right now for some reason and using a similar pallette of pthalo blue, Payne's grey, lamp black, zinc white, yellow ochre, light red, vermillion, terra verte and sienna. I'm working with oils on wood surfaces, often using items I find at thrift stores, as well as the cradled wood boxes I used for encaustics. I found that I liked the way oils worked on wood while I was doing my landscape series of encaustics and had some primed and ready to go when I started painting again.  I've been able to finish as piece in a day once in a while working wet on wet but most of the time, it takes two or three sessions with drying time in between, so I can finish one in a week.  Most of them are small, but I found a wooden panel, 31X19 at the new SOS thrift store which just opened right near my house, so I'll be going large.  This will be quite a challenge for me, I've only finished two large canvases 36X24 in the past ten years I've been painting.
This is all in preparation for an invitation to enter a juried show in Columbia, SC in March.  I don't know if I'll finish the big panel in time, but I'll try.  I've got to prime it first so won't get started on the actual painting until Sunday. I'm planning on doing a figure but am not sure what yet. I also have three small panels primed and ready to be painted.  And since I was gifted with a new set of 12 oil paints so I can't delay because of lack of materials.  It's just finding the studio time.
I've updated my website with all of the paintings I did prior to being diagnosed with cancer and plan to photograph all the news ones on Saturday so my site will be up to date.  I've been debating who to proceed in the coming months.  I miss having my work at Les Beaux Arts and miss the int4eraction with the other artists there but am also really tempted by the new studios which will be opening in Brandon Mill in the Village at the West End in May at the Greenville Center for the Arts.
I found the time to visit The Village Grind, a new coffee shop in the Village at the West End and a great gathering place for artists.  Wonderful coffee and great people.  The owner is the niece of Mark Mulfinger and two of his large paintings are hanging in the shop.  I can't wait for Mark and I to go.  I also stopped by Art&Light and saw their new digs and artists' work including Teresa Pace, Kent Ambler, Paul Flint, and Diane Kilgore.