"The Light in the Willow" - A Landscape Painting for March's Virtual Paintout

"The Light In the Willow"     5" x 7"     Acrylic on Museum Quality Claybord

Ooops! I forgot to get this painting in on time for the Virtual Paintout last month, when we traveled to the stunningly beautiful place called Vilnuis, Lithuania, so I wasn't able to post it on there which is a bummer. But at least that gave me more time to work out some of the parts that had me stumped, particularly the lighting and depth of field. I have to be honest, I was so stumped on what to do with this work that I was close to throwing in the towel and calling it done, until I realized how much it was telling me it wasn't finished with me yet. That's when I stumbled upon an old Thomas Kinkade calendar as I was working on slowly moving Owen into my studio and my studio into the office, (which it will soon take over I hope) and realized just what I was missing - dappled sunlight! I noticed that in so many of his paintings he seems to include this particular characteristic of dappled light shining through the trees and across the grass and lanes, and it's this type of light that gives off that "Saturday stroll through the park" feeling I've always felt and loved in his works. Yes, I like Thomas Kinkade. So I added some dappled light of my own, and some extra highlights and I am way more happy with it now than I was before. So now I can gently set down the towel with a smile on my face and call it done, which is a very happy thing for me!

Just in case you wanted to know, here's what it looked like before:

Before there was Light in the Willow =0)

Well, now it's time to start on this month's Virtual Paintout which is in Bulgaria, and to both start and finish up some of my commissions. Is it true? Am I actually this blessed to be making some much needed money doing something I absolutely love to do? This is crazy! Crazy wonderful, but still crazy. YAY!!! If you ever want to order a commissioned work from me of your favorite destination or family pet or just about anything, feel free to email me! If you can't tell, I absolutely love commissions!

Okay, good-bye for now my friends. I hope you're having a very enjoyable day today!