Nana's birthday

Today is my mother-in-law's 65th birthday, so I decided to bite off more than I could chew and paint this piece for the occasion.
It'll get there tomorrow, but the important thing is that she'll get it in time for her birthday party. So she'll have the option of showing it to her guests.
I made paper mountains (and added a little skier)...
painted the background elements and then tackled painting over the kids' faces.

This is the technique Lisa Bebi taught at Artfest 2008. We're now Facebook friends -- imagine that! -- so I asked her which colors I should use for the skin tones. She recommended parchment as a softer white, plus several Golden acrylics: Indian Yellow Hue, Burnt Sienna, and Burnt Umber. For the parchment/white color, I used Warm White by Plaid/Folk Art, or Light Buttermilk by DecoArt/Americana.

Oh.My.God. I need so much more practice, but at least it's in the ballpark of what The Boy and TwoBoo look like.

Like I said in my last post, TwoBoo was a lot pinker than I expected, but the combo I discovered was pretty simple. I tinted Light Buttermilk (which is more yellow than the Warm White) with Quinacridone Red (which looks kind of hot pink or fuschia). The shadows on his face are Burnt Sienna, and his hair is Burnt Umber with a hint of Ultramarine Blue. The shadows on his hand are Burnt Umber.
But The Boy's skin? Jaysus, that was hard. He's darker in general... sun exposure as well as genetics. The highlight on his cheek and the shadows on his forehead and neck were easy (Warm White, Burnt Sienna). But the rest was so hard to pin down.
So I mixed Warm White with Indian Yellow Hue (a pumpkin yellow-orange) and Quin Red and came up with a sort of peach. Maybe there was some Burnt Sienna in there too; I think I did a couple of Burnt Sienna, then Warm White washes.

I would probably do something similar for either of my sisters-in-law, but my other in-laws would just nod and smile, really. My brother might like one, but it'd be a waste of time. He'd be pleased for a minute or two only because someone else got one.

The Husband thinks Nana will like it, but I wonder. She'll appreciate the effort for sure, but I'm not sure she'll like it for what it is. It may be too precious for her tastes. So Nana might bury this one somewhere too, but at least she'll dig it out whenever we come to visit.

EDIT, 5/29/09: Nana opened the package while I was on the phone with her... she pronounced the piece "darling."

Adding mountains, painting faces

Pieced some paper mountains into the project for my mother-in-law. There's a tiny skier too.

I also started on the kids' faces. Boy, I didn't realize how pinkish-white TwoBoo is in the picture I'm using. Somebody might have to check to see if he's my kid.

Background

Working on a present for my mother-in-law's 65th birthday, which is next week. I've gotten the background done and smacked down an itty-bitty plane that's trailing a banner. More later.

Silhouette

Sorry, Seattle International Film Festival: I only want you for your graphics. It's not you, it's me.

Mother of two

This was my first Mother's Day as a mother of two. The Husband and boys took me to lunch, but I think I would've been too wiped to manage even that if TwoBoo were still under three months old. So that's one of many things I'm grateful for this year.
Each small person made (or had His People make) me a present at day care. The Boy drew me and him next to a tree in his multi-page card. This one says, "I pick flowers for my Mommy. She's special because she makes breakfast for me." (He was nice enough not to mention my constant reminders to chew with his mouth closed.)

TwoBoo's people made me a couple of foam flowers with his face in the center, plus some coupons like "Good for one hug" and "good for one day of no whining" and "good for one breakfast in bed." (Like to see that last one -- done by someone who can't yet sit up unassisted.)
For any of you about to take a baby out to lunch, here's an easy toy: Wrap a bib around the infant carrier handle and let him/her grab for it. Genius!
This would be one of the few moments when The Boy wasn't testing his boundaries this weekend. On Friday, he colored on his cot cover at day care. On Saturday, he ran away from The Husband at the supermarket -- repeatedly. Today he persisted in applying sunblock (when we were on our way home) after he was asked not to. This was after he almost made me a mother of one again, by running after a ball that bounced into the street.

Well... he's four.

And both of them are a lot better-behaved than many kids, so I'm grateful. The best thing: raising them with The Husband. 'Cause someone might not make it to age five without The Husband helping me maintain my perspective.