It's been a long day of inking. If I could admit to being involved in the comic book industry I would, but alas, part of the longest part of my artistic process. The downfall is that after long periods of time, no matter how much you want to keep going, you need to stop. Part of the reason is for hand cramps (although I could teach myself to draw with my left hand), and the newest hurdle has been developing paper burn. I never thought that it was possible, but I've learned that drawing for hours and hours and dragging your hand across a rough gessoed surface leads to irritated skin. I think that I'll have invest in a pair of fingerless gloves at the market tomorrow morning to halt this new phenomenon. I'll probably get laughed at since the weather has been picking up to summer-like temperatures and I'm considering breaking out the birkenstocks tomorrow to celebrate. This will take me back to the paintbox, which is a good thing as I have one painting that's been almost finished for the past few weeks and it's driving me nuts.

My final critique is in less than a month's time so the pressure is on, and as a result I've been living in the studio again. Let's just say that the apartment has been pretty vacant lately, and I'm sure that Alice is enjoying the space.

In the meantime, things are really picking up pace. I'm hoping to the natural history museum this weekend to draw some taxidermy, and also make it back to Rome this week to visit an exhibition of Albrecht Durer's work. In a week and a half I will be graced by a visit from Joan, Steve, Denise, and Mike Kernohan. We'll be running around Firenze, doing a whirlwind trip to Pisa, Cinque Terre, and Venezia before they meet up with their guided tour of southern Italy within five days. I don't think that they'll have time to realise that jetlag has even hit them. The week following that, Matt (mentioned in the blog entries about my first visit to Venezia) will be returning to Italy to give Firenze one more look-over. So, in the midst of end-of-year mayhem, I'll get the opportunity to play tourist plenty. I'm glad, as I'm realizing that as the clock seems to be ticking faster by the day, my time here is coming to a close and the next chapter of travels and settling will begin. It's starting to feel more and more like summer every day, which is a good sign and will be celebrated by the donning of sandals tomorrow.