Another meet-up with a friend to paint! Kirsten and I had a paint day while the guys routed network wire. Doing something a bit different, this painting is based off of a painting by Colleen Wilcox instead of the simplified event paintings. To add my own personal spin, I also added artwork from Madeline's and Arianna's sketchbooks. I combed through the pages and found a collection of sketches to integrate into and around the tree.

I call it "New Worlds," a place where cats and owls frolic with 6-legged, crystal dragons among elaborate, alien flowers.

Another Harry Potter themed painting. I started reading the illustrated books to the girls and Quirinus Quirrell and his dark deeds in the Forbidden Forest made an impression on us.

"Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure and defenseless to save yourself, you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."
—Centaur Firenze, HP Philosopher’s Stone

And now for something different…
I've done a few of these "paint day" events with the girls but not yet with another adult. This time I got the pleasure to join my friend Ulrike to make our own Harry Potter variation of this tree painting. We set up in her dining room while the kids played and were able to do our thing virtually uninterrupted. It was great!

Minor tweaks this morning and signed!

I'll have to look at this in the morning but I think it might be done.

I'm trying something very new for me. I've taken one of my favorite photos, run some filters on it via Photoshop, transferred to canvas via the grid method, and started to paint in blocks of color. I know this is in the early, ugly stages and this has been really, really hard. Though it looks way better on camera and from a distance. And squinting. With your eyes closed.

Make way, make way...

Date night means shenanigans with paint brushes. The artist, Wayne Thiebaud, had a way of layering paint that produced some spectacular effects in his paintings of desserts.

I made some effort of that with Hei Hei and though it’s not a match for Thiebaud I still love the little guy.

I was kicking around these little canvases for years. Made perfect little gifts.

"You must have seen one of the spirits of the forest, and that means you're a very lucky girl. You can only see the spirits if they want you to."
-My Neighbor Totoro

I want to add Forest Spirits to every woodland painting I do now.

“What I want is for the humans and the forest to live in peace.”
- Ashitaka, Princess Mononoke

My favorite painting so far. I love the colors. The photo makes it look black, but the darkest color is a deep purple.

"I also believe that you met the King of the Forest, Mei, and meeting him is a sign of good luck. But there’s no guarantee that you’ll see him all the time.”
– Tatsuo Kusakabe, My Neighbor Totoro