This is my favorite recent painting.  Last month I had some sort of painting breakthrough.  It’s about time, as I have been painting a significant amount, for years.  But mostly I haven’t really been happy with my art.  I’ve always enjoyed the process, but not so much the results.  It’s nice to finally see all the effort pay off!

I’m working on another mermaid painting.  Also enjoying the Christmas season.  It’s my favorite time of year.  I made some cookies with my mom and grandma.

My parents took us out to eat to celebrate my cat, Jellybean, which was nice ❤️. I had an Irish coffee in her honor.

My left brain side wanted to do more winter themed work, but I usually end up going with my creative vibes instead.  It keeps me more motivated.  So that’s why I’m working on mermaids.

I realized I hate working with oils and I’ve been kind of forcing myself to use them all along. I decided to stop doing that back in November and I feel like it’s really helped my art!  I had this idea that finishing my paintings in oils would make them look better, and I think that’s true in a lot of cases, but not if I can’t enjoy working with them and feel like it’s a complete pain in the ass.  I just couldn’t stand the slow drying time, the texture, even the different mediums – it was just so annoying!  And then I would varnish them with Gamvar and they never seem to dry right, like there’d be this tackiness to them even months after!  Never figured out what was going on there. So after years of fighting oils I’m going to take a break.  I’ve always loved acrylics and loved working with them, to me they’re the ideal medium. So I’m staying with just acrylic for now. 

Happy Holidays!