Brushwork

24 hours, 3 acrylic paintings. 
By no means are they complex or anything ground-breaking, but I was on a fantastic artistic streak.

 First I painted a tropical fish inspired by Williams-Sonoma plates that I bought my parents for Christmas.  It's my dad's 66th birthday, so when I was done painting the fish I cut a hexagonal border (you can kind of see the tape) and pasted it onto another sponged background of graded blue.  I think he liked it!

 My dad's aunt and uncle came to visit, and in between meals and conversations I ducked into my room.  I don't why but I was particularly motivated to do a self-portrait.  At first, I was really pleased with the pencil sketch, nervous to paint... but then the brush hit the paper.

 They say that we create self-portraits the way we wish to be perceived in the world.  If that's the case, I want to be viewed as reliable, elegant, bright and open.  Beautiful would be nice, too.

I've been looking at a lot of graphic illustration lately, so then I made this whimsical design of a hot air balloon.  It actually took a lot longer than it looks because the balloon was initially emerald green with streaks of yellow and white, until that struck me as too much Wizard of Oz.  The white smudge across the middle is where I'm going to write an insightful quote on traveling or whatever :).

The last three days I've been up before 7:30, isn't that outrageous?  I don't necessarily need to, but at least I have these extra hours of daylight.  It's snowing like mad here, I hope the roads it doesn't impede the roads too much. Tonight my favorite band Rubblebucket is playing a show in Rochester, and I've invited all my friends from around Western New York so we can go together!  I can't wait to get my dance on.  This afternoon I'll cooking lasagna, meatballs, a salad and whatever else I can find for dinner for 15 people, potentially.  In my new apron, of course.

Listening:  "Hurricane Drunk" by Florence + the Machine