neglect not the gift

Guess what?!  I've been painting!  A little.
I've also realized, with all of this moving and packing and unpacking, that I've got a lot of stuff that I've never posted, a lot of student/older work.  So I'll put some of that up in the next post.
For now, let's do some post-student work...
My husband, Aaron wrote a poem on his mission that I wanted to illustrate for his birthday one year.  These are all watercolors, after Vereshchagin, Walter Rane, and Carl Bloch.

"I often ponder the solemnity of that cold and lonesome hill
that stands as a witness of the Father's call and our Captain's reply "I will."

"But is it enough alone to know that we must follow where'er he goes
For in the great halls of eternity echoes his call, "Come follow me,"
But who will follow where our Captain calls,
When at the gate he asks, "Watch with me,"
It was easy to follow when he gave sight to the blind,
"But please, dear Captain, not now, not me."

And who will follow to King Herod's court, where scourged he fell to his knees.
The pathway seemed clear as he taught on the shore
Oh Captain, let us return to Galilee.
Yet his love pulls me onward when my faith begins to flee
No matter where my Captain leads, that echo resounds, "Come follow me."

So who will follow to Calvary, though cold and lonesome the hill
To stand as a witness of our Captain's call, and our humble reply, "I will."

He's pretty great.

Here's a sketch I did of little Aaronie when he was a babe...

And here's a tiny little oil sketch that I never finished.  I'd like to though.

This is what's on the easel right now.  I started some portraits of my sister's kiddos several years ago, and I'm finally getting to this one, of Neve.  It's almost done!
Here are some shots of the various stages, in backward order:

You know you've got a good painting when your palette looks like this!  I LOVE color!!

A little one I did for my favorite Sandy Foutz...

This is a larger collaborative piece I did with the primary-aged children in South Dakota.

And I was asked to do something for a Christmas event with a fine art exhibit and concert, also in South Dakota.  I had VERY little time to do it, so it's really not a great piece.  I'm not even going to show you the whole thing.  But here are some details.

The face of the baby Jesus is very small, about the size of my fingernail.  He is looking up at the attending angel while Joseph and Mary are sleeping.

Joseph is trying to stay awake, but he's worn out, man!

And the angel, watching over them, giving them rest. 

Thanks to Steve and Allison for being my impromptu models!