Flor de Luna

Today was a very productive day.  In the spring, when all the snow melts and I find a six inch layer of leaves on my lawn, I will look back and question my priorities, but today we painted.  I tried to take a selfie again to show how much paint was on my face and IN MY HAIR this time, but alas - no bueno.

This painting was going to be a great way to show why I use a high gloss varnish.  The main background color, one of my absolute faves, dries to a lighter matte finish.  Most of my paint dries to a matte finish, and I don't like that look.  The varnish REALLY makes the colors pop.  So I took before, during and after varnish pictures but I don't think you will be able to see any difference. Here's pre-varnish:

 
We'll skip the halfway pictures because they are crappy, so here's post-varnish:

The lighter color in the background is Interference Red, which is totally awesomely cool in real life but impossible to photograph!  The cradled panel is 10" x 10" and I'm calling the piece Flor de Luna.  It's definitely a moon flower but I have used a variation of that name several times already so we're going international with this one.

If you're counting, this is my fourth November painting with a goal of ten.  I've got two more backgrounds drying right now that I will finish tomorrow, if they work out the way I hope they do, and another one of those half-done pieces from last fall is now finished and waiting for varnish as soon as the last bits of paint dry.  Which should be right about now....