Commission: Emma

I finished this commissioned painting at the end of August, but I waited to post it because it was being given as a surprise gift to some family friends. It's a painting of their dog, Emma. They had seen the painting of Marley that I had done as a gift for my parents and said how much they liked it. As a surprise for our friends' wedding anniversary, my parents commissioned me to do a watercolor painting of their yellow labrador. It was an interesting commission job because I had to sort of sneakily get some reference photos of the dog from one of their sons (facebook to the rescue!). But the painting worked out well and the friends who received it were really happy and surprised.

This painting was done with watercolor and acrylics on watercolor paper, measuring 12" x 10" and completed in August of 2010. Some in progress shots of the painting can be seen here and here.

My Classroom - Part I - The Front Door

This week I've been working on setting up my classroom and getting things ready for the start of the school year. Getting the classroom exactly the way I want is going to be a constantly evolving process throughout the year, but I'm happy with the progress I've made so far. I've been documenting everything with photos as it goes along because I know I'm going to want to look back on it. I still have more to set up next week before classes start, but in the meantime you can check out the door to my classroom. I finished decorating it on Wednesday.