"Joy at days' end" / by JW Harrington

Joy at days’ end. Oil on canvas, 24”x 24”x 1.5”. $500

I’m excited about this new painting for three reasons: it reflects the day I retired from 37 years as an academic (hence the “days’ end”); it’s the first time I used classic oil-painting techniques of underpainting, layering, and glazing; and I think it’s the best portrait I’ve produced so far.

When I started painting almost nine years ago, I declared a goal that within 10 years, I wanted to be able to enter my studio and undertake a meaningful non-objective abstraction, a landscape, or a portrait with confidence, with my choice based on what I felt was needed rather than on fear of working in any particular genre. Of course this painting isn’t perfect by my standards, but I feel good about my progress.

Available — though I’ll be displaying it in a July-August show in Tacoma — contact me at jw@jwharrington.com