I'm having the best time...

24"x20" Acrylic Painting on Canvas Board
- Annie Hamman

So on Friday, I got a notification from my postoffice to say that they have a package for me too large for my box... and when I opened it... this is what I found... 

Annie so loved the #collaborative piece that I did with Sharon Tomilson a while back that she suggested we do one together.  But WOWSER - I wasn't excepting this.

I thought Annie would just send me a background to use and vice versa.  
My first response was "SHUT UP, I can never touch this... It's too beautiful!"
And man I was intimidated.  Fearful that I would just ruin it!

She's such a gifted artist!  I mean - look at those hands!

So I got home and I was immediately creatively challenged.

So I started rummaging through my napkins and ephemera desperate for anything that would help me.  Fear does that... make you rummage.

I'm freaking out over here... OK!

So I started with this sweetest little bird... telling her sweet secrets and her head is tilted in the perfect way for listening to the sweet whisperings!

So immediately I started to feel like - Ok, I think I can do this.

These beautiful hands need to be holding something, I played with a few ideas but then decided to put a tulip drooping over... it's still one of my favourite flowrs and the length of the stem was perfect with the length of her body...  I used Gesso to soften the dresses.  Annie made hanging sleeves on the taller lady so I decided to do that on all the ladies.

Next step was to start working on the collars and sleeves...  And start putting down layers of oils over Annie's Acrylics.  It's actually the first time I've ever done a painting with my base layer being Acrylics and I think I really like it!

Without meaning to, this piece has taken a rather oriental feel with the dark blues and reds and whites... and the style the dresses.  I added a pattern to the vase and wrapped pearls around the front girls hands! And put pearls around the ladies buns!

I also added paint layers to the tulip and birdie.

So my front girl isn't where I would like her to be... but I will get there!

I have some ideas for the background that will stick with the oriental vibe that this piece has taken on.  I need to consolidate my background with these amazing ladies!
I will share more as I gain ground and hopefully finish this piece that will be a true reflection of both of us as the artists of this piece.

Annie made a complete replica of this painting for herself to work on to see how different our directions go.  What a fabulous project to work on with her!

It's been a complete honour, completely humbling and extremely challenging doing this piece with her!  I do believe we should do more sharing of our skills and art this way, purely for this reason.  It makes what we do so fun and exciting.  It's on days like this that I am blown away by the direction my art is going and I am having the best time with some pretty remarkable people... And it occurred to me on Friday, that I'm living my dream!
Almost every single day!

I plan to do many more of these wonderful collaborations!

My #collaborative piece is ready to send to Annie, when she receives it via our postal system - I will post more about what I did for her.  My piece for her is so completely different!

I am nervous about it but I hope she loves it as much as I have loved hers.