Here’s one of the paintings that I’m currently working on… a photorealistic acrylic painting of two yummy pink cupcakes!  I’ve finished the icing on both of the cupcakes, and almost done with the sprinkles.  My next step, after finishing the sprinkles, is to finish the ‘cake’ part of the cupcakes, and then to finish the paper cups, and then the shadows.  The shadows are always the hardest part because it is so hard to blend ‘wide’ expanses of color in acrylics, due to their quick drying time.  Therefore I work in a series of extremely-watered down glazes, so I have to wait for each layer to dry before I can add another one.  I do the same technique for achieving the dimensional illusion in the rest of the painting, but the shadows are always more difficult because they are basically blobs.  I find it much easier to handle nitpicky detail rather than nebulous, nearly-monochromatic blobs!

You can also see the tiny easel that I work on, as well as the photograph tucked behind the painting.  This painting is 5″ x 7″, acrylic on wood panel.

I finally got my new camera (YEAH!!!) but I haven’t had time to play with it much, let alone take pics of my Spoonflower fabric.  I’ve been sick for the past week with a strange stomach bug, which has left me in a state of relative weakness and a diminished ability to concentrate.  So I’ve been slowing down and focusing on my health and getting better.  The fact that I have the energy to write this post shows that I am on the mend, so hopefully I will be back to normal speed in the coming days!