Today I decided to start a 2nd 16×20″ painting that I plan to make into a greeting card. I figured that way I’d be able to paint on two small paintings at once, since most of it will be glazing. The basis for the painting is this self portrait I took about 6 months ago:

Hmmmm….I look quite a bit younger in this photo and I only took it a few months ago. Either 1) stress is killing me – and not so slowly, at that – or 2) I look better and younger with longer hair or 3) the lighting in my bathroom is very very flattering. Probably it’s a combination of all three, but I’m going to grow out my hair again just in case that’s it. I love the convenience of inch long hair, but I have to admit – it isn’t very flattering on me.

I mixed up values of burnt umber and titanium white – this time I only mixed up nine values. It’s really easy to mix up a lot more, but it does use up an awful lot of paint.

And this is what it looked like at the end of the day – not yet complete, but I’m off to a good start. Originally I was going to have the reference photo of myself under my right elbow, but at the last minute I chickened out and painted a container of medium over most of the photo. The photo would be so small and at a weird angle – I don’t know if I could paint it very well. Okay, I admit it – I paint much better LARGE.

And you’re probably wondering…..how is she going to use that photo in a greeting card? Well, my idea is to 1) on the front of the card have the painting and the words -Do You Think I Should Paint In The Wrinkles? and 2) some kind of verse like…..Wrinkles? What wrinkles? Happy Birthday to someone who doesn’t look a day older. I want to make the kind of greeting cards that I’d like to buy – ones with actual painting on the front versus line drawings or funny photos. And I want the paintings to be of REAL PEOPLE. Real Characters. I just hope that there are like minded people out there who would actually buy the cards. And send them.

I’ve really enjoyed just painting for the last two days, but I know I’m doing it to avoid making business phone calls. I really have to force myself to make some calls to stores in Chicago to see if they’ll carry my ABC’s of Chicago poster and notecards. We have several thousand $$$$ invested in the printing and I can’t let them just sit in my studio gathering dust. This is why I finally quit my jobs in sales – call reluctance.