NaBloPoMo - Day 20 - A Blank Canvas

There's something magical about a blank canvas...

so much potential.

I've been dabbling in oil painting for a few months now,

(having initially started in watercolor then acrylics),

and a friend of mine from work joked about buying my first painting

which was of one of the valleys in Hawaii:

I just laughed...

After all, it was my very first painting in oil...

I've done a couple more paintings since then for fun:

This one I called "Claudia's Rose Garden" for a friend's mother:

I did this one for my husband who wanted a

"Bird's Eye View" of the area in which we

live... including our home which you can kind of see

on the bottom...

Then, during my deepest grief after the death of my mother,

I started painting as a kind of therapy.

I had been going to an art class held by a local artist

and I took a bunch of my acrylic paintings and redid them

in oils... 

So this became

This...

And this...

Became this....

Soon a friend was opening a new business,

so I painted this for her... she loved it!

"Mad Haddie"

She's a beautician...

The writing on her chest is "meraki"

which describes what happens when you leave a piece of yourself

in your work or art.

Then hubby wanted something hang-gliding themed,

so I created this...

It's him hang gliding just above the Mattole River...

My friend kept commenting about wanting one of my paintings,

and a few months ago he said he wanted to commission a painting...

Just had to have me make him something...

So, now I am faced with a new blank canvas...

I have my photo for inspiration...

I've done a preliminary sketch with 

all of the themes and symbolism I want to include...

and my heart and soul are ready...

meraki

Hope I do a good job!

Promise to share my progress...