I worked on The Picnic and nothing else for the past few days. The Picnic has a painting surface that is difficult. This doesn’t happen often anymore but it’s annoying when it does happen. It slows everything down. Luckily, an intermediate varnish solved the problem and things are more to my liking and moving swiftly now.
I don’t have a favorite artist but there are several that I think about a lot–both French: David, and Poussin. Lucky for me, the Cleveland Musem of Art has three Poussins and two Davids one of which is excellent.