Queen's Rule

I think we're at a stopping point for taking pictures of the back view... everything is just sort of dead and ugly right now. Once we get a pretty snow, I'll snap a picture of that! Autumn was fun while it lasted!

I finished my queen earlier this week, finally!

"Queen of Hearts" 16x20 inches, acrylic on stretched canvas.

She came out well, even though there were times I worried. It's funny, because I feel like this painting really fought me. I'm not sure why. It certainly took forever, if we look at actual time from the drawing to the completion... but that's mostly because I walked away frequently, frustrated with her.

I'm going to paint a companion piece to her, The White Queen, and I'm actually looking forward to that one! She lives backwards, so I'm working on coming up with things that express that!

I also finished two little pieces:

I named this one Bunk-bed, can you see why? I'm in love with this one because of the tiny mouse. I have this urge to paint all sorts of tiny mice and kittens on tiny canvases!
4x4 inches, acrylic on stretched canvas
This one is now available in my shop

I painted that little mouse, and he's smaller than an earring:

it's a bad picture, late at night off my phone, but you can see how tiny he is.

I realize I need to fins tinier brushes for a lot of the things I want to do. The ones I have, they're simply not small enough!

And then I finished this kitty too:

The moon and leaves are iridescent. I've started adding in jade to the edges of my moons and I just love it! 
3x6 inches, acrylic on stretched canvas
This painting is now up for sale in my shop

And then I didn't get any work done because everything got a bit crazy here between house showings and other things. I'm back to work now, and working on a piece for the Black and White November auction on facebook:

it's messy, I know. My idea is do paint everything in black and white, except for the moon, her, and the wolf/dog's eyes (which will match the moon somehow.) I've forgotten how tricky it is to paint in just black and white. This is funny really, because I used to be afraid of color! Black and white (and all the grays) were so easy! Color was tricky. Now, it's the other way around!

So, I'm a bit uncertain if the piece will turn out. I'm hopeful, though! And Christmas paintings are on the way too. I must get my holiday painting in! And with that, I'm also putting up one of my Christmas trees today. I know it's early, but normally I decorate on November 1st, so technically I'm late. Since we're showing the house, I wasn't going to put anything up until Thanksgiving, but the truth is that I need my twinkle lights!

I hope you all had a wonderful week! Anyone else have holiday decor up yet?