craftgrrl | Finally, all paintings complete...

I wanted to post them as I finished them, but I was so stressed towards the end that I was BARELY finishing in time to present them for out annual Christmas Eve dinner. So now that all the Madness is over, here are all the paintings I did as gifts this year...

This Paul Berthon reproduction was for my Grandmother. I had a lot of fun painting this one because it was my first time using watercolor on a large piece. The lines are brown acrylic, the surface is called Aquaboard "the Amazing Watercolor surface!", it kind of is amazing too! I'm sure I'll be buying it again!

Frank Zappa for my Mom's boyfriend. The black acrylic was really good quality and dried with a texture almost like oil paint.

Peter Lorre from my favorite movie of his "Mad Love". I always had a major crush on Lorre from most of his 30's/early 40's movies, I did one like this before and my older Cousin loved it so much she talked about buying it every time I saw her. The problem is, she's a broke student and it's at a gallery downtown. Also, the first was on mason board and doesn't have proper mounting. So I did another, I LOVE the way it turned out. I almost wanted to trade and go get the first to give to her so I could keep this one, HA! I did it with oil based enamel sign paint.

My Uncle is really into John Wayne and I always wanted to do a little pop portrait of him anyway. I Knocked this one out in under an hour using sepia toned acrylics to give it that "Rio Bravo" look, don't mind that fuzzy spot under the brim of his hat. I got impatient and took the picture before the finish had dried.

Just a little floral design I came up with because I couldn't think of anything else to get my Aunt. I figured flowers are a pretty safe bet. I used every brightly colored acrylic in my roster for this one! Turned out nicely, took way longer than I anticipated.

and my crowning achievement of possibly the whole year!....

My mom's painting. I worked on this one on and off for weeks. The image is originally from a late 1800's magazine called La Plume, which means feather. The original Artist was Alphonse Mucha, who is absolutly one of my all time favorites. The picture I went by was black and white so I came up with my own color scheme, I'm obsessed with combining Wild Iris and Sea foam green. This one was so tedious I nearly cried trying to have it finished in time. In fact, I didn't finish until Christmas afternoon! But when it was done I was so glad I did it. It tested my strengths and I can say now that I'm a much more confidant painter than before.

So my goal of completing 8 paintings in 17 days was a success and also a great excessive in patience. Although I swore about a million times I'd never do this again, everyone loved their paintings so much, and all together, with the canvases, brushes, paints and even the frame I couldn't have spent more than $50 on everything (thanks to Hobby Lobby and Michaels kick ass Holiday sales). So maybe I will, but will give myself more time to prepare, not start a few days into December like I did this year!

in case you missed the first two...