Reese and Reese

Reese must have had some sort of idea what the top secret project was. When I asked him if he thought that I was working on a painting of him, he said, "I considered it at one point."
"Well, what else would it have been?"
His answer..."a time machine....or a flying car." At he has complete confidence in my skills and abilities!

It's such a relief not to hide it anymore. There were so many times that I would have asked his advice or just gotten a little feedback on the progress, but it was a secret! One day I took a nap on the futon in the studio. When I woke up, there was Reese standing tall over me grinning from ear to ear....only it wasn't Reese, it was the portrait of Reese. Freaked Me Out. After that incident, it was covered when napping.

Then it took me forever to figure out how to get the frets in the correct positions. I ended up making fret marks on a rubber band, then stretching the rubber band on the canvas to get the fret bars in the right place....which I worked on on Christmas eve. I was in the studio with the door shut to keep out the dogs; Erin's dog, Raleigh, and our "Uncle" Skipper. The painting was on the floor to use rulers, rubber bands, and such, and the next thing I hear is Reese talking to me through the door. He was worried that I might be overcome with fumes.

Another good thing about working on it at the last minute is that Anna was home to give me some good art advice. It's not the first time she's given me invaluable advice. This go around the advice was about shading. She suggested some shading here and there...then said, "That's too blue. Why don't you add the complementary color to get really good shading."
"What?"
She said, "Mixing complimentary colors together makes a neutral, and these colors are better than adding black to anything for shading. Avoid using black ALWAYS."
It was news to me, but when I tried it on the Reese portrait, the depth and dimensions started to pop.

I think Reese likes the painting.