I'm not going to lie to you. It took a long time. And one thing I don't have is a lot of free time, so it was a little scary to wake up today knowing I had to find time to paint. Luckily/unluckily, I was sick so my family went to the beach without me, giving me a chunk of freedom.
Originally I had planned to do have it be simpler with graphical elements... but no. It wanted to be "painted"... every little detail. And honestly, it was a good learning experience because I am so unfamiliar with acrylic, mixing my own colors, painting glass (!!!!), painting a tshirt (!!!!)... omg, it was crazy. AND I just did one layer at a time. I really had to slow myself down. Because I couldn't ponder my next move too long, I used a hairdryer so I could put on the next layer. As far as subject matter do, the pic was originally taken in my kitchen, but when I started drawing the wine glass, I remembered finding one of steve's empty wine glasses in his compost pile in the garden. He loves his garden and spends most of his "home-time" in it. Steve is also famous for his sweat peas and often has a bunch growing out from the top of his compost pile like a wild hairy mess. So, all things being equal... I painted my husband's portrait and I'm entitling it "happy place" for now.
The artist that inspired me was Maira Kalman, though her style is much, much simpler. I hope to learn enough about mixing colors and layering so I can simplify my process (and spend way less time!) All in all, a terrific learning experience.
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