Addie, finished

 Swiping the fine line of a whisker over a cheek already finished with many oily colors, carefully chosen and blended, instills fear in my heart. If I was working in smaller sizes, no big deal. But whiskers on faces of this size can be six inches or more, and that’s a lot of distance to cover for a perfect arch in a consistently fine line. So, I like to let the paintings dry before I add the whiskers, if I can.  Addie lives locally, and her mom is an agreeable sort, so I was happy that was an option.  I adore Addie. She has a young spirit of fun and I think this expression is a good capture of her personality. The thing is, I really wasn’t pleased with my work, on this. I sent it home to dry with a bit of a wince and a promise that I’d pick it up in several months, to complete.  But, you know, now that the whiskers are on (and I added a few freckles and darkened the left muzzle shadow a smidgen), I like it. I actually retouched a lot of different areas (is it possible for an artist to receive a painting back and, being up close and personal with it once again, not see areas that require fussing?), but not enough to really be noticeable on their own; just enough that it seemed to add a certain dimension to the overall painting that I didn’t see, before. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s just time. But I’m glad that Addie is finally done.