New painting, "The Journey"

OK, here it is!  The finished painting, that I called, "The Journey".  It was a struggle to finish this one, but it turned out to be one of my favorites that I've ever painted.  I brought it along to Karlyn's Paint-in last week, and the group really liked it.  In fact, it sold there!!! I love it because it tells a story of my journey as an artist, with lots of inspiration from all the friends in my life.  I try to surround myself with positive people.  No time for negative vibes!  And that tall person right next to me, would be my husband, my greatest support ever, and the love of my life!  I got permission from the buyer to keep it till the end of May, so I'll be able to show it at my open house, and it matches my sister's pillows so well.  I'm going to enter it in a national show also.

Acrylic painting

I'm falling in love with acrylics lately.  I still love watercolor, but only if I can add collage with it.  I'm almost finished with a painting that I started many months ago.  I used this 30 minute study as my model. (done with Tombo markers) I had set the painting aside for several months, due to other things taking priority.  I came up with this idea, that my sister and I should coordinate our art.  She is a seamstress, and makes wonderful pillows and a variety of functional art.  In fact, her business is called Functional Art.  She sewed some beautiful pillows, and I painted a painting to go with them. They are pictured below.  This will be my first coordinating painting!  I'll post it tomorrow.  I really enjoy the process of having fabric as a starting off point for my paintings.  Love the freedom of painting whatever I want, as long as it matches the pillows.  And sometimes, it takes away the stress of picking colors when the artists' block sets in.  Today, I painted with a few friends and we painted from 9:30 till 3:00 p.m.  It was so fun to hear feedback on each other's paintings.  If you don't have a group to paint with, I strongly advise it.  We artists are alone too much of the time, and it feels so good to have friends to talk with, while I paint.  Granted, I wouldn't work well like this every day, but once or twice a month is so good for me!  By the way, my sister's fabric pieces are featured on http://www.etsy.com/  Her name is Nancy Klapmeier.  Her link is http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?q=Nancy%20Klapmeier&order=undefined&view_type=gallery&ship_to=&min=0&max=0&removeLocation=1