I managed to talk Lisa into moving to WordPress, which she did ever so gracefully (heh! seriously, she jumped right into it!) and now she’s sporting a new custom design that I created for her that will really highlight her (amazing) photography so much better. I had such fun creating this design - go have a look around!

I just can’t get enough of these adorable little birds. The hummingbirds are quite active right now, they’re on the feeders and flowers constantly. I was playing with my camera (Sports scene auto mode, Panasonic Lumix FZ50) and got some incredible shots today of this little female Ruby Throated Hummingbird and had to share.

I’ve gone and snuck in another painting on you - this is Soubi, a sweet little baby orange tabby kitty. It’s a 4×4 painting, so not very big - and I’ve been working it in as I’ve been working on Tucker’s portraits.

I finished up Tucker’s second portrait today, the 5×7. I’ve got a photo of both of the paintings side by side so you can see them both completed.

I’ve just completed Tucker’s 8×10 portrait, so the painting is still wet and pending any minor tweaking. I’ve taken a photo of the finished piece beside the underpainting of his 5×7 portrait so you can see the difference between the underpainting and completed piece. Quite a change, huh?

Tucker’s neckerchiefs are pretty much complete (tiny details will be enhanced in the last session). The next step after this area has dried is to get that final coat done. I’ll enhance/deepen the eyes and nose and then start applying his top coat of fur. His Golden Retriever locks will curl over the top of his neckerchief and give his portrait that dimensionality that he’s lacking right now.

Indigo takes longer to dry than any other color - so I’ve got them under a fan to try to speed things along.