I’m too excited about this painting not to share. This is the preliminary sketch of “Firebird”, which I began yesterday afternoon.

I kept seeing paintings of firebirds everywhere — in the bathroom at the craft store, a set decoration on a tv show — I finally decided yesterday that I ought to try painting one myself, and the composition just popped into my head right then. Within a couple of hours I had not only this sketch done, but I’d begun the work on the canvas itself. If I had good lighting, I might have kept working on it for hours. As it was, only the the bare outlines and rough background are complete. Hopefully, I’ll have a chance to work on it a little bit more this afternoon.

Right now, though, I need to go get ready for a writing date, and make some progress on the other work in progress — my novel! Free time is about the only good thing about being unemployed, I guess!