"Auburn, Emerald and Lace"

This will probably be the last painting finished for the year, but I wanted it done for the next show in January.
I created a challenge for myself here.  I didn't want the figure to sit dead center or all the way to the left.  That's been done a lot.  However, in order to balance the layout I needed something to draw attention to the large left space - hence the lace pattern. 
And then when it came to taking a photo, was the next challenge.  It took several shots to get the colors right.  The lace pattern is mostly iridescent pigment.  In order to have the lace show up without "washing out" the darks, I will admit to tweaking it in PhotoShop.  But I think this version is pretty close to the actual artwork.

Holiday artwork

I finished this first little miniature painting for my art league gift exchange. 

When my husband saw it, he asked for a painting in the same format but with hedgehogs.  He has lived in Germany before and fell in love with them.  "Hedgehog X2"