I had to give up my art table again for a few days because there was no better place for the Christmas tree than the foyer, but it is back in place again. For my birthday John and the kids gave me Prismacolor pencils, more RAM for my PC, and Paintshop Pro software. We were all surprised to discover that all the RAM I had before was 128MB. Now I have 640MB. Now my PC doesn't get so bogged down. That is good because Paintshop Pro really consumes system resources, but I can sure see that it will be a terrific tool for homeschool, art, and family photography.

Here are the two portrait projects I have going at the moment.

I am continuing to work on Zachary's portrait. This is the one I started 3 years ago before my art table got tied up with computer duty. Now I am able to get back to work on it. Currently it is about 1/2 of the way done with tons yet to go on the overalls and a good bit more to go on the face and hair. This picture doesn't show the whole painting. It is a watercolor.

I am also working on Kris Price's (raffle winner) pencil portrait of her two kiddos. Here is a picture of the progress so far. I am almost out of the softest, darkest pencil grades. I will need to get an order in for more before this one is finished or I will run out.

  Click to see it better.

I am modifying the background to make it seem like a heavier snowfall and getting rid of the distraction of the house in the background. I am also opening her daughter's eyes a bit. I tested out the modifications with a rough plan using a photo editing software. Here is the plan.

  Click on the thumbnail to see it larger.

Here is the original reference that Kris sent me: