You're gonna have a baby present!

Way back in February I purchased my first really big piece of canvas, 16"X20". At that point the largest I'd ever done was about half of that, but I had a big plan.

I was going to use all my techniques to try and whip up an awesome "You just gave birth now have a painting" gift for my friend. But of course, she's not due til the end of May so I got plenty of time and hid the canvas in the back closet.

Then before Easter I dug it out and got to work on it a bit, doing the big sweeping sky and the lake. And the In-Laws showed up so back away it went (along with a whole bunch of stuff we can't find now) and I suddenly found myself under a deluge of wedding dresses that needed to get out the door.

A few weeks later I tackled the trees, and oh man are there a lot of trees. So I took another break as the almost finished piece glared at me on the floor. But I was this close to dousing the thing in lighter fluid and tossing it onto the grill and only a bit of space could salvage our relationship.

Luckily the break was just what I needed and last night I was finally able to hammer out the last stretch and finish it up. The shimmer is actually paint, I have a little silver I like to add to water to give it some oomph in the light. I also now know why big paintings are so expensive. I easily spent over 12 hours on this thing and was just about to go mad a couple times. The lake and sky were easy, it was that huge hill of trees that did me in mostly.

But it's all done, just needs to get coated and then delivered when the new arrival stops annoying his mother and actually wants to be born. So now I've finally done a real painting and actually have a second big one for a coworker. What is it with me just giving away all the really hard ones?