A finish and a start


8x10 oil on canvas panel, a commission due for Christmas. This is a portrait I started a week ago Tuesday online, with several members of her family (and the little girl herself) watching. No pressure there! I'd only gotten to paint for two hours that day and wasn't able to get back to it until today. I spent several hours at the gallery working on it today and like it quite a lot now. I used a dry brush technique that felt very much like the way I sometimes use pastels.

This is a start I made on an 8x10 oil on canvas panel, a commission due for Christmas. The photo reference was taken with a flash, but after my initial worry about its quality, I think the portrait is going to work out just fine. I'll post progress images as I go.

It's a sign of how kind my artist friends are that no one's called me on the fact that posting my goals update is WAY over due. Let's just say that for now I'm just going to focus on getting my Christmas commissions completed. The revamped website will have to wait.

La Villita has a big holiday event on the weekend following Thanksgiving and I'll participate in the "open house" atmosphere on Friday and Saturday by holiday decorating and having refreshments for the revellers. The lighting of the Riverwalk on Friday is a huge event each year and many thousands attend. Here's what the official Riverwalk website says about it:

At 7:00 p.m. on the Friday following Thanksgiving, the switch is thrown and approximately 122,000 twinkling lights form a magical canopy over San Antonio's River Walk. The lighting ceremony is the official kickoff to the Paseo del Rio Holiday Festivities. The spectacular one-hour parade features decorated, illuminated floats with celebrities, bands and lavishly-costumed participants. The theme for this year’s parade is a Theatrical Christmas.

Thanksgiving is just a week away, can you believe it??? I guess I'd better start decorating and figuring out what to feed the visitors to the gallery!

4 comments:

Stacey Peterson said...

I love how fresh your paintings of children are Susan - these are great.

And also, I've tagged you - check out my blog to see the rules (if you haven't already been tagged by someone else!).

Dianne Mize said...

Susan, you've caught a darling expression in this one. And a good start on the second one.

I think we're all in silent agreement that when life throws a curve ball, there's lots of room for cutting some slack. We're all just happy to see you moving. I bet you not a single soul has had a thought about goals' updates.

I hope you can spend these holidays focused only on thoughts and actions that heal.

Jo Castillo said...

As Stacey said, nice and fresh. Looks like you will have a busy Thanksgiving weekend. Have a great holiday and some turkey!

Diana Marshall said...

I agree with everything Dianne says,
just know that you have a lot of painting friends who are sending you good vibes and just love the work you do and you just keep on producing stunning portraits no matter what, that's strength of character.