You Never Know...

It's been a busy Fall. Not only have I been painting for the SMAL library exhibits, but I have also been asked to paint three paintings for others ...and get paid to do it! Now, this is new for me. It NEVER occurred to me when I began painting for pleasure about 10 years ago, that someday, I would be painting ...and getting paid.

Interestingly, whenever I have sold a painting it has always seemed like a fluke - a surprise that someone would actually want to hang one of my paintings on their wall. I have painted a lot of grandchildren paintings and it's been fun to give them to their families...after I have used them in exhibits.

And that brings me to what happened in September. My husband, George, was giving a book talk (he has recently published a book of essays on the Chesapeake Bay). After his talk one of the attendees came up to me and said she had seen my paintings on display at the St MIchaels Library and she would like to send me some pictures of her grandchildren. Would I take a look at them and see if I could paint them for her!

She emailed the pictures to me ...and I sat with them...  I wondered if I really could do this. I have heard friends talk about how hard commissions can be - it's sometimes very difficult to capture what people think they want.

I finally got to work on them and today I finished the first one. I emailed the image to the grandmother and am waiting to hear how she likes it...

This is the watercolor underpainting

This is the finished painting

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she likes it as much as I do... you never know!