Second Christmas

"House Guest" 8"x 10" oil on "Gessobord" c. 2013 TMW

January was just plain rough.  What I thought was a sinus infection drained my energy all month.  I managed to keep going little by little and finally finished "House Guest" which was supposed to be my Christmas painting.  Jackie Gratton gets the photo credit for the adorable photo of their kitten Maiyu that inspired me.

February came and with weeks of unrelenting grey, I finally got a photo of the painting that was a reasonable exposure during a brief break in the clouds for 20 minutes of sunshine.  I am not kidding, that's all you get and then clouds lock back up for weeks.  I tried some photos when it was cloudy and they had too much of a blue-cast in them.  I just had to wait.

The sinus infection turned out to be a tooth that needed a root canal...ouch!

This painting was fun to do, just very time consuming getting the lighting right on all the little figures. A good thing to remember for future paintings.   I have Jeff to thank for mentioning to add the star, it really gave it a finishing touch.   I hope you will enjoy a little "Second Christmas" spirit in February.  I know I needed it!