Finger painted oranges and more Mother and Daughter Jocks

Last night my pastel class got almost cancelled due to poor weather - lots of snow on the gound then messy rain turning to sleet and eventually to snow (cancelling school for today).  Two brave souls came out despite the mess.  We had a lovely class.  So that I wouldn't be tempted to breathe down their necks and offer them too much advice (!), I decided to do a little bit of drawing myself.  I set up some oranges, got out som sanded paper, then decided pastels were not the right tool, so I globbed out some oil paint, donned some gloves, and went at it!  It felt so good to be finger painting at age 50!  Try it, you'll like it!

I've also continued working on my large piece, Mother and Daughter Jocks, but I won't be posting images of it anymore.  Part of the process of painting these wonderful women is respecting their needs regarding their images.  The mother of the pair contacted me to say she wasn't as comfortable as she thought she'd be with the painting now that I'd started it and she'd seen it on the web.  She said she doesn't mind if people she doesn't know see it, but she doesn't want others to see it.  I can understand that.  So if you want to see it, you'll just have to make the trek to the studio!  Today I worked on the daughter.  I had painted the mother using my hands  The flesh turned out rough and gorgeous, a bit like the background in the painting above.  For the daughter, whose body isn't beginning to show any signs of age, I've used a brush and have applied the paint very, very smoothly.  I'm liking the contrast.  I think it's pretty interesting.  I am very excited about this piece.  It's very large and challenging, and I haven't had as much time as I wanted to have to work on it, but it's good to have such a project.  It stays with me all day while I'm doing other things and feels great when I get back to it.  I'm thankful for the snow we've had which has given me unexpected time to paint and get other work done.

More images from antiquity tomorrow, but I wanted to share today while it's fresh!