One part of my world

Thought I would show some progress photos of a recent custom order I did for my Mini Muses...

It was a warm day so I was working at my desk on my upstairs side porch....

(right now I don't have a permanent space for art, lots of times I work on the dinning room table, but as my son, Wade is moving out in June, that should change soon!)

First I carry out a drawer of paints, cheap bottles from Walmart for the backgrounds, which as you will see I later mix with artist grade tubes of acrylic for some stronger pigment.

 Plus some matcha tea for me, some napkins to wipe paint on, and an old paint cup....

and Pandora (Dido radio) on the Ipad...

and lots of bright sun.....

I also have a paper where I sketched a possible muse on for practice, which I did like and decided to follow. I had also first lurked. Lurking being a big part of custom muses, I think!

I sketched a quick guide on the mini canvases and started smooshing the background on with my fingers...lots of times I work straight from the bottles and tubes, doing the blending right on the canvas....

 

Going back and forth between two canvases, so parts of each could dry in between...

Starting a few details....

I had the help of one of my daughter, Brandy's, cats, that I am still cat sitting for...

Her name is 'dirty popcorn', but she calls her 'Dirts'. 

She got loose one time when she was living with Brandy in Cortland, and Brandy found her months later when she was on facebook and someone who was a friend of a friend or something like that, posted a photo of Dirts, saying this cat had been hanging around. The cat is from the Humane Society there and even has a chip implanted in her so she could be found if anyone had taken her back to the Humane Society to have it read, and yet Brandy found her through facebook instead!

Now Dirts never even tries to get out. 

I guess she has had enough of the street life.

Starting the details with a fine line sharpie, some details are also added with black paint and a liner brush...

And all done.

although I did change the shape of the lady muse's face just a touch from the way it started, not sure if you can tell. It needed to be a tad thinner...

Then they were ready to pack up...

 I took some advice and worked on how I want these to arrive, thinking how I would want to feel when I open a present to myself!

 But I don't have a photo of that yet.... 

I really did enjoy doing these and hope to do more. It is wonderful knowing a tiny piece of my art is out in the world, making someone smile!

If you want one of your own Mini Muses; I will put a listing up on Etsy for a custom one. You can choose between child and adult, hair color and style, background colors, words and even a simple symbol if there is something you really relate to...

From my piece of the world to yours.....

Have a great week!