Back from Danville. Nice drive through the changing countryside with trees beginning to turn, and fog in the valleys. Little peeks of the sky, with sculpted clouds and turkeys in the field. There are some really cute little towns like Dushore with a big pond in the middle of town and a cluster of old buildings, agriculturally inspired real estate. Meetings were good yesterday--and am happy to back at the headquarters today. Farmer's Market here in Tburg--so maybe a little trip is in order later this afternoon.

Been sporadically reading bits and pieces of "Indian Painting from Cave Temples to the Colonial Period" by Joan Cummins, MFA Publications,©2006, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Its great--addressing this stylish art with the author getting into the various aspects of the Indian style, how it changes according to geographic area, the use of Hindu reference and symbols, and the sheer way the picture frame is used and described. The imagery of trees and flowers, fish and birds, beasts and gods (and snakes!) is a great reference for this Garden of Eden work. I love the palette and the use of white space. Sometimes its wall to wall decoration, others, its a figure in a color field with a top bar or a border. The figures are as styled as the Egyptians, with a treatment in profile, three quarters view and heads on, with a really great way of handling hands and feet. If you actually tried to stand as these Indian figures do, you might just fall down. Its important to be a paperdoll to be in this mode. Its a nice counterpoint to read how Cummins interprets the images and understand how she breaks the picture and style apart. It is a prompt for me to think about these ideas to impose on my emerging body of work. The indian work and the byzantine styles are beginning to fold into themselves in my head with shifts and changes in content, palette, line treatment. Keeping going for Vin. Color comp due Monday. I am going to take it until Monday to see what emerges.

Lunch is here. Its a Christmas afternoon.