Making little saints

Have reconfigured my place a little. Hopefully prioritizing my painting a bit. Took my living room that I almost never have guests over to use into a work space. The living room has migrated into a smaller den space that used to be my dining room. Cozy and bright in that space now. The main area is being taken over with what will hopefully be an almost daily work area. Instead of coming home for a nap I can engage in a few fun projects. Things I enjoy far more.

A first attempt at making the little saints that I have been thinking about. There is a bit of a way to go to get them right. I am also not really starting out with the right process or materials, but using what I have to get started. Right now I am happy about the relaxed and more joyful depiction. Want to bring a distinct style to the figures. Sure, they have a very contemporary style. I just don’t want them to be sad and scary.

Ultimately I want to work with traditional methods and materials. I took a class on creating my own paints from raw materials quite a while ago. Really want to work on that foundation. At that time I went Australian indigenous style with the paints. This time, I am going with the more proper regional traditions. My oil paints and flatter brushes are not going to cut it here. I also need to figure out how to make a natural pine varnish to seal things up.