Advent Calender

Last year at a Blissful Home Guild Meeting we had a talk about creating your own felt Advent calender. It took me the whole year and is not quite finished but it is operational for the Advent season. The kids are enjoying it but are not really into what it is all about quite yet. On the painting front I have made little progress for several days. We have completely rearranged our house, moving rooms across three levels and so things are in disarray. Happily however I now have a dedicated studio to work in.  I am trying to get everything organized and because of inspiration from this months Blissful Home Guild Meeting I am looking forward to decorating.

Shades not quite done

Shades is close to being finished, I need to work on the hat but I have to wait for the perfect paint brush to dry. I want to be careful to not overdevelop and over work the hat. I want it to be loose and to not draw away focus from the center of interest.

Vacation Sketches

ust getting around to scanning some of the sketches I did on my last two trips to Florida. It is good to work on something when unable to paint.

Shades

Progress is going well on Shades. This is a fun painting to work on because the energy of the character. This would not make a good portrait for her to own however because it does not portray her as nicely as desired.

Thumb Sucker

My son says that this baby is picking his nose.  I am not sure that counts as a helpful critique.

Thumb Sucker

I am very excited to get started on this little thumb sucker. This pose really speaks to me because of about eight years of practice with it as a child. I think I started sucking my thumb in vitro and had a very hard time stopping after that. My parents tried putting a solution on my thumbs that tasted awful but I knew if I kept at it I could suck the yucky taste off after a while so I think It only made me suck my thumb more if anything. What finally squashed my thumb sucking habit was pure guilt.
My "nice" grandma knew that I liked music boxes so she promised she would give me one if I stopped sucking my thumb. I stopped but only when she could see. At bed time as soon as I knew she was not watching that thumb would go straight in my mouth. The ploy worked on her and before long she let me choose a lovely music box for my own. That is when the guilt set in. I knew I was lying to pretend I had quit. Before long I had the habit kicked because it was just not fair to lie to my grandma, and I did not want to have to give the music box back.

This painting is being a little difficult because the whole side of the face is so dark it is hard to show form with out greater tonal differences.

Is it finished?

The painting may be done. Need to look at it again in a few days to be sure.