Happy Easter 2015

I have had two commissions to work on last week.  The first was for a couple from CA who were visiting some friends of ours.  They came to the house to see my work and bought a butterfly tray and commissioned me to do a painting of a quail.  They wanted the tail to overflow onto the frame.  I happened to have the perfect frame for the project.  Before I had it done they called because they decided to also buy a divided dish with a quail on it that they had seen while here.  Below is a photo of the painting and also the two other pieces they bought.

The other commission was for a friend who had a small table that her father had built many years ago. She wanted me to paint it as a companion piece to a small step stool that she had bought from me last year.  Below are photos of both.

Before I got these commissions I had prepped a couple of items which I put aside to do the commissioned projects.  After they were completed I finished work on the prepped items.  The first is a wood carved coyote and the other a medium sized bowl that decorated with butterflies.

I took a photo of each side of this little guy. The next photo is of the butterfly bowl.

Now that I am caught up with all my work it is time to give my shop a good spring cleaning.  The last few times I cleaned I did a quick surface clean.  This time it has to be a top to bottom cleaning.  Time to sort through things and get rid of old dried bottles of paint, old beat up brushes and junk that I have collected over the years.  I'm not looking forward to it but it must be done!

I hope everyone had a Happy, Blessed Easter Day.