Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I hope that you are 'home for the holidays' and able to spend time with family and friends. Merry Christmas and all the best for the coming year. May it be full of art and lovely new adventures that have great endings.
We will be doing Christmas dinner at our place and then off to visit with family and friends. My commissions were done in time and I will post a few in the new year after presents have been open. In the meantime enjoy my little lady, she has come home from the holiday to show off her new city clothes. She has arrived at a small town train station and is waiting for a ride home. She will be part of my series I am doing for a train station museum out in the valley.

Dahlia Splendor - Completed!!

Well I finally finished my dahlia and I am really pleased with it. I still can not believe how much work it was! The finished picture is 5 x 6 inches and so those little bits in the middle were very small and quite a challenge. One thing I did learn was the magic of a cut up vinyl erasure. I cut up a small piece into a wedge shape and it was really good for getting in between some of those petals and really clearing up the edge. The putty erasure just doesn't give you the sharpness that you need in some spots.
I must admit despite my complaining I loved how the dahlia turned out and I have already planned another. But first I must finish my Christmas commissions then I can have my fun. I am sure like me you are all working hard to finish up those gifts; it is such a crazy time of year.

Dahlia - WHIPS

Yes I am still working away on my flower. As you can see I quit being systematic, I was working from the top left corner across and down but the center petals did me in. I needed a break and so now I doing 'the big stuff'!! I am really travelling around the flower and trying lots of different things to make each petal tell its own story. I am starting to see the end of things so now it is getting very exciting, I am even planning another picture, another dahlia but maybe not as many petals!!