We even had a real dusting of snow this week. It wasn't much, just a quarter inch but it did stick to the ground for a few hours. Maybe winter will be late and weird this year too. That'll be interesting.
Business is booming, which is great but I had to order all three sizes of the canvas I use this month. It's very expensive and the shipping is exorbitant. The only place I know of that carries it is on the west coast. I've been buying from them for over 20 years, they're very reliable and I like dealing with them but it's always a hit when I have to buy two sizes at once. In 45+ years of designing needlepoint, this is the first time I've ever had to buy all three sizes within so short a span of time. The upside is that my canvas cupboard is now packed and I can keep painting!
You never know what will be a hit with customers. Last spring, I was asked to paint a bolster sized pillow that was very simple, just a white background with charcoal numbers depicting a significant date. In this case, a wedding anniversary. It was big, bold, contemporary and not too difficult. I thought nothing of it.
I've done five more date-pillows in the last three weeks!
So far, they've all been wedding presents but they'd make great birthday, birth announcement or anniversary commemorations. The first few were all black and white but now I'm getting orders with colors. Yay!
Painting class is going swimmingly.
I haven't been able to post any of my latest canvases because my phone quit taking pictures. Jay fixed my phone* yesterday so here they are:
It was very difficult to concentrate as the place smelled of fresh donuts all morning. I'm the only one who didn't opt for the more interesting composition of a donut with a bite out of it. I can't take one bite out of a donut. If I'd done that, I'd have wolfed them both down and my painting would have been of crumbs. I brought them home and Zack and I ate them when he came over for dinner later. I believe I inhaled mine in about 11 seconds. It was soooo good.
I had a stack of fancy bound, classic books from a collection I got from my Uncle Mickey when he moved out of his duplex a few years ago. Then I forgot to grab them when I drove off to class. Fortunately for me, everyone else had plenty of books they weren't using in their own set ups and one gal even had an extra apple, so there you go.
Zack happened to be at the house when I brought home "toilet paper in blue". His only comment; "It's yellow."
Well, yes. the light was warm and there's really nothing white actually looks 'white'. I completely botched the hue of the shadowed part of the roll but the value is okay so it works. If that dark weren't so warm, the roll would look 'whiter', so Zack's totally right. It gives the paper a much yellower look than it should have but I still like it.
I've reached a point where I know that if I just practiced, I'd get good at this. You can't become good if you only do it once a week. I don't care what you're doing, there is no substitute for experience.
I really like this one. I can just hear you saying "Really. Why?"
Well, it was very ambitious; there was a lot going on and I managed to suggest most of it in only a little over two hours of painting. I could have worked on this set up all day but class only runs to noon, so that's it. I wasn't happy with it in class but in the days following, I've like this one more and more. The tarnished silver cream pitcher and the candies glow just the way I hoped they would. So, I consider this a success.
I'm not that hard to please.
* In the past week, Jay fixed my phone and my computer. He fixes everything for me. Even dinner. Is it any wonder I adore him?