This Seems Familiar...

So, I'm technically not taking new commissions for the Panda +BUT+ ...sometimes I will. At the starting of the summer Randy Feldman asked me to recreate one of the earlier paintings I had made for of his sons about 3 years ago. The painting was of Ethan and Toby's "lovies", the toys they cuddled with when they were very young. The problem is two boys but one painting. This did not sound like something I should turn down. Plus I thought it would be interesting to repaint the same subject 3 years later. "It doesn't have to be identical", Randy told me. So it's not completely identical. But it is no longer yellow as you see above.

See the original painting here

I just finished the  new "lovies" painting. Above is an image of the preliminary lines made for it with black ink.

.... at least I think I'm finished with the painting. I often will fuss with a painting until the point which I hand it over. Their can be different levels of finished. At some point I reach a time where I call a painting "passable". Not excited about it but someone else may be. I never leave it there, drives me nuts. Then it becomes what I think of as "good". At that point I try to push it to "magical" or "special". I know these are corny words but I don't want to make something that is just okay. I think this new painting is there... but I might still lighten or darken areas or make some minor changes. But I need to hand it over to Randy so I can stop acting like an old lady who collects porcelain cats. Just so. I nned to put my doilie back on the table and get on with things... I don't want to overpaint and ruin.
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Shortly receiving this request I had surgery on my right hand. I decided to have a cyst removed which had been bothering me for years. I thought I would be back to normal over the course of a weekend but instead it took about 6 weeks for me to get full movement back. Now my hand is better than ever and I no longer have the grip problems I've put up with for the last 5+ years.



I'll scan and post the finished painting when I'm sure I'm finished.