Chloe as a Christmas Gift

My husband's family has decided this year to give handmade gifts, with a approximate value of $20. They did this last year also, with moderate success. The women in the family, all very creative, were very happy to make and give handmade gifts. We like to create. The men......not so much. One of my brothers-in-law made a paper airplane out of a twenty dollar bill (which, I gotta admit, I thought was quite creative. It fit the rubric...it was handmade and had a $20 value) and the other taped a check for $19 to a cinder block and wrapped it. (He said the block cost $1...LOL)
Now this year I was not so keen to do this because December is really hectic for me and the kids can't seem to do anything like this on their own which means that I have to practically spoon feed them  to get them to make something. It just is a pain and makes my December that much more hectic and that much more stressful. But, in for a penny, in for a pound. I got my brother-in-law, paper airplane guy, in the gift draw and decided that I would do a portrait of his baby daughter (Remember I LOVE faces...LOL) I sure hope he likes it because I don't know what else I could possibly make him that he would like.
Anyways here she is.....Chloe.....whatcha think? She's kinda cute huh?

Oh I forgot to add....it's been at least 30 years since I worked with pastels...no lie. I had to blow the dust off of them when I pulled them out of my cabinet. All things considered I think I did rather well.

My ArtSwap Came!

Oh my Twitter #ArtSwap came and I was soooo delighted to get it! It was from Tasmanian artist Kim Foale, @frogpondsrock, a wonderful ceramic artist.  I had seen her post it on the #ArtSwap stream and thought to myself: "Oh I would sooo LOVE to get that for #ArtSwap!" And for once in my life (well once that I am conscious of) the Universe heard me! AMAZING!  She makes wonderful pieces that pay homage to the human connection with art, leaving personal traces like fingerprints in the glaze or the slightly off center edge. No mass produced every one perfect and perfectly the same bellybutton pieces here. This is truly OOAK and I just love it! Here it is....check it out! Isn't it beautiful?!