Painting done!!

Well, friends, the commissioned piece is done and Joanne really likes it! It is a portrait of beautiful Joanne and her wonderful and unusual cat, Zigsa.

Because Joanne is a very talented illustrator (you can see her wonderful pieces on her blog), I was a little nervous about doing this painting for her. Ok, whom am I kidding? I was a lot nervous, but still when it came down to drawing the sketch and painting the final piece, I got so into the process that I forgot all about the nerves and just enjoyed it.

I did have a photo of Zigsa, but no photo of Joanne, just a wonderful elfin self-portrait she did of herself. I knew about her wavy hair, the color of it, the green of her eyes, and her bangs. I just went with that and hoped I'd somehow capture her look.

The first iteration of it had a solid dark blue background because I wasn't sure how much texture Joanne would like. Also, it seemed pretty busy already, so I didn't want to overload it. But Joanne was wonderful and said that she'd prefer one of my "halos" around the figures and some circles in the background. So, I got to play and really enjoyed that! I also added some light molding paste to the background to give it some texture.

I love it! Joanne loves it! What do you all think?

P.S. I know I said I'd blog about an award I received and will still do so. I also was interviewed on a blog today and will post about that as well. So much going on! Tonight, I'm in a little bit of a time crunch, so I'll bid you farewell for now. When I get a minute later, I'll visit all your inspiring blogs!!