Happy New Year?

Yes, Blog, I know that it's February. I'm working on February projects, but I wanted to post an old(ish) one, from just before Christmas, now that there is no risk of my ruining the surprise.

I love love love to do private commissions, especially with people's pets and inside jokes, so when Evan emailed me after Brunch and Buy to paint his and his girlfriend's two dogs and a Thompson's gazelle in a hot air balloon, well. If we chat in real life, I probably told you about this already.

Here's the painting:

My goal this year is to carry the loose watercolor magic that (usually) happens in my small paintings to bigger, more complex pieces. It happened some with Pom Pom (the Pomeranian, obviously) but other areas didn't come so easily. That said, this piece was unadulterated fun, and Evan was a fabulous client.


Bonus! Here's a sketch for a February project that I like a lot:

Hopefully this will be a poster before March. And that puffin is now an egret.