Happy holidays! 2016 has been a really exciting year for me. I started this blog in February, vacationed in Hawaii in the summer, saw Tool live in October (big moment for me), and grew a ton as an artist. This year hasn’t always been easy breeze though. It has been an extremely busy year from start to finish. I hit numerous mental blocks with painting, some of which I’m still trying to work though. One event that really messed with me was nearly losing my dog days after finishing her portrait. My number one painting issue that I’m still working on is just sitting down to paint. I’m grateful to have this blog and the encouragement of my followers to motivate me to keep painting and posting. I truly appreciate you. Thank you.
I completed 16 paintings this year which is a little better than the 10 I completed in 2015. However, with how much more often I painted in 2016 I had hoped to finish more paintings. I’m very happy with how much I’ve improved and the paintings I did finish though. Toward the end of the year I took a much needed break from painting landscapes. I had been painting them almost exclusively since I picked up my brushes again in January 2015 and I just lost interest. I want to vary my subjects more in 2017 to prevent the same burnout.
I’m really looking forward to 2017. I have a whole series of still life paintings in mind that have me really excited. I finally have a dedicated studio space that I don’t have to clear away to eat dinner. I built a soft box so I can start painting from life again and maybe I’ll even try my hand at some plein air painting once it warms up a little.
Yay! You did a great job on the doggie btw.
Thank you Dawn!
I particularly like the two portraits. Nice work.
Thank you. Those are probably my favorite paintings of the year.