Taking a Break from Jewelry

After what seemed like a long (and very hot and humid) show season and the holidays over, I wanted to take a break from making jewelry and get back to something I used to enjoy doing years ago but never got good at, painting in oils. So I've gone crazy again purchasing books and DVDs and more brushes to add to my already large collection. To ease back into it, I started with a course from Kingslan, a series of little 5x7 pictures that were fun to do and didn't take a lot of time. Three of them were painted pretty much like the originals but I totally changed the background on the pansy picture, which necessitated somewhat changing the values and colors of the flowers. The little cabin was from a picture I found on a computer wallpaper site and was an exercise in taming Thalo Green. Not 100% happy with it but everything is a learning experience. Now I'm working on an original still life that I actually set up myself. That's where my jewelry photo lights came in handy. But I still don't have the confidence to draw with paint directly on the canvas so I did trace my design on it. Next I will really tackle alla prima by trying some of the DVDs I purchased from Daniel Edmondson, at least until I have to start restocking for shows.