This portrait was an interesting challenge for me. This pretty young girl's grandmother commissioned me to paint it for a Christmas gift. The biggest problem was working from a dark 5"x 7" photo and interpreting the look of her teeth under braces. I had the painting checked several times during the process to verify correctness. Fortunately the client is happy with the end result. Would I do it again? I'm not sure. Ask me next year. Actually I had fun doing it. I never thought I would ever say something that sounds so masochistic but it's true. With every new challenge comes knowledge gained from the experience and I love challenges so I must be getting smarter, right? ........Don't answer that.
Nancy and I had a nice holiday with family members who live locally. We always wish the entire family could be there but that's never possible anymore. That's kind of sad.
What's ahead for 2010? As I mentioned in my last post we will be staying here in Loomis, CA over the winter and I plan to build up my painting inventory for the Art Fairs this summer. This, of course, will depend on the progress of the economic recovery. I want to paint some larger paintings which seem to do better in the West. Most of my current works are smaller 8"x 10" to 16"x 20" and some of these I'm selling at auction on Ebay to Easterners where, I'm told, smaller works sell better.
Ebay is a tough art market because customers there are looking for bargains and there is so much work available world wide. In the future this may change as marketing art on the Internet becomes more acceptable to collectors and there is no reason why it shouldn't. Naturally you have to use good common sense just as you would any purchase and make sure the seller is legitimate. In most cases you are guaranteed satisfaction or your money back. In my case I even refund the shipping cost of returning it.
Please email me with your comments at ernie@erniekleven.com. Also you may click on http://www.erniekleven.com/ to go directly to my website to view other works of mine.
