One of my wonderful students presented me with a gift card to a craft store, which enabled me to replenish my depleted paint supply and brushes. It was just the push I needed! I gathered my tools, a board, and a couple of photos to work from, and hunkered down to work at my kitchen table.
When I am painting, I generally chalk in my outlines first. I decided to work on a painting of the little goat, Snickers, that we lost a few weeks ago. I had two precious pictures of her that I combined to show her standing on wobbly little legs. Once I was happy with the outline, I began painting.
The first hour seemed to move along well. Renee was wrapping presents while I was painting and that was peaceful enough, but suddenly, everyone else arrived on the scene and all of the noise and action threatened to rob my creative spirit. Renee suggested that I try listening to music on my headphones, and once she helped me get set up to do that, I was painting happily again.
I am very pleased with my end product! It captures Snickers personality well! Carter explained to me that if he saw someone else painting that, he would say, "Wow! That's really good!" But since he has been watching me paint his whole life, it doesn't impress him. I suppose I should take that as a compliment!
After finishing the painting of Snickers, I finished another painting of our goat, Willy, that I started almost a year ago. I am really pleased with this one as well. The difficult part for me is deciding whether or not to sell the original paintings. Part of my "plan" for having my own studio includes selling my artwork, and I have never had trouble with that before, but these feel so personal!
Jerry has cut another board for me and I am planning a painting of my rooster, Curious, next. Three paintings in one day? Well, at least my itch has been scratched!
