my BFF had a birthday the other day. and if it hadn't been for another of my BFFs (who also celebrated a birthday recently) i would have heard about it through an unhappy BFF.
i'm the worst about birthdays. i write them down. i write them down incorrectly. i lose the day planner in which i actually write them down. every year they surprise me. i frequently mix up my childrens' birthdays by using the day of the month for one with the month of the other. i'm twisted that way.
so my friend had her birthday. i knew i had made something that she wanted a while back because she told me to put the something in my store so she could buy it (she Really likes shopping :0) but i never put it in my store 'cause yadda yadda yadda.
hence, i thought i'd send the something to her for her birthday. but as i had 12 projects due plus two projects due plus a vacation all looming in one week, i decided to make her something completely different. procrastination in the form of pleasure painting.
are you still with me?
a long while back i painted a portrait of a friend. i painted it for myself. 'cause i wanted to. it was more realistic than i normally work with. that's another reason i painted it for myself. it was actually of a living person and a living person that i know. as you may have noticed i prefer to paint people with either blue or green or yellow skin tones. it is what i like (did you hear me, mother? :0)).
but i sometimes over-think how a living person would feel about seeing their porait painted blue or yellow or green. and so i will paint them in a reasonably normal flesh tone with only bits of blue or yellow or green. at least that's what i will do if i plan to actually show it to them. my BFF had loved this other portrait and told me she would love it if i would paint one of her. i said it would be very cool to have a whole wall of portraits of my friends and family. and she said, i mean that if you painted me FOR me. and i said, oh no. that is not happening. if i paint you, i am painting you FOR me...'cause i wanted to.
but, since i was procrastinating from doing what i was supposed to be doing, and since she flat out asked me to paint her, and because she is my BFF, and it was her birthday, i painted her portrait in a fairly realistic style. which is a lot of work, i tell you. and a struggle. and it causes me to have to have many, many conversations with myself and put the brush down and walk away and come back and walk away. i've only done two in this realistic style so while i am pleased at the success of finishing this, i could have worked it to pieces over and over again. i do not yet have confidence in this style of painting as i am such a novice in it. so better to let it be and embrace it for its own self, for what it is, and what i know and like right this minute.
so after all that blathering, here's her portrait. it is 10" x 10" on a 1.5" deep gallery wrapped canvas..
and that was what i did for maija for her birthday. happy birthday, sweetie!
my mom and i are taking a two-day portrait class this weekend. i've never taken a painting class along with my mom. it should be great fun as we spend way too much time laughing and finding everything hilarious. i will have to behave myself and buckle down to learn something.
