Art by Mary Rochelle Burnham

Evening Falls On General Williams , watercolor, 8x10" available My favorite statue at Belle Isle, Detroit, MI is of Major Gen. Alpheus Starkey Williams as he sits atop his horse, checking a map as his steed bows his head. Williams, a Detroiter, was a congressman, a judge, a lawyer, a postmaster, a newspaper publisher and a failed gubernatorial candidate, and was appointed a Brigadier General for the Union Army in the Civil War.

Sheer Light of Hope , pastel, 22x16", SOLD I am proud of the way this turned out.

Path To Fay Canyon, 6x8", oil, SOLD I recently went out with a "meetup" group to Fay Canyon for plein air painting in the Sedona and Verde Valley area that was organized by Michael Chesley Johnson . This is the painting I worked on outside and completed in the studio.

Path to Oak Creek , oil, 12x16" SOLD I recently went out with a "meetup" group for plein air painting in the Sedona and Verde Valley area that was organized by Michael Chesley Johnson . I will be taking a Plein Air Essentials class from him later this month. This painting was inspired by his demonstration of "Sycamore Shadows" at the Sedona Arts Center .

Red Tea Pot , Oil, 11x14" My gift to myself this year, is to immerse myself in as much learning as I can absorb. I am currently studying with Gretchen Lopez , a marvelous artist. Very sweet and generous.

Chapeau , Oil, 12x16" It feels good to work from a live model again. Yesterday, I joined the Portrait Artists of Arizona . I drove two hours to get there, but it was well worth it. We had a very lovely model and she was quite pleased with the likeness. I experimented with painting loosely and getting a heavier application of paint. As a follow up to  Fallen Firefighter , my January 5th blog, here is a photo from the Pensacola News Journal  (click to read the full story): Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com Velma Jones, center, the mother of Maurice Bartholemew, gets a better look at her son's portrait during the dedication of the new downtown library Friday morning while her grandchildren, Maurice's kids, Caleb, left, and Tiffany Bartholemew look on. A special wing of the library is dedicated in memory of Maurice Bartholemew.

Venus Nebula , 10x8", digital art print, available This week' Daily PaintWorks Challenge is as follows: The Something New Challenge , posted by Carol Marine on Saturday Jan 5, 2013 I challenge you to do something new for the new year. It can be anything - just as long as you've never done it before: a new medium, a new subject, a completely different style, etc. Stretch yourself. Get uncomfortable. If you don't like the result, try it again... I challenged myself to create something out of my mind, using no reference. That is something that I just don't do...and now I have and it felt pretty good. It's even scarier to post it and (quite literally) show the world. I'll survive and hopefully try it again and again.