Happy New Year! It's 2012 and I can't believe it! New year, new ideas, new resolutions (ugh),  new inspirations! Even though Christmas came so quickly, I still want to continue painting Christmas stuff. Why? Well because I love Christmas! I still have some ornaments that I want to finish, a Santa Clause and a slate. I will finish them this month!
In the meantime, and in between cleaning up my Christmas decorations, I will start painting Valentine items. Oh, I love Valentine's Day, second favorite to Christmas! Painting makes me happy, I love to paint, so I want to wish you Happy Painting!

Go for a walk. Take your camera with you and start taking pictures as you walk. Look at your garden, your flowers, your trees, even the weeds! Zoom in and take close up pictures. Now go home and print out your pictures, use these pictures as your pattern and start painting.

Always clean your brushes. Be kind to your tools. If you paint every day, it's a good idea, at the end of your painting day,  to clean all the brushes you used that day. I use a gentle soap and gently scrub all the paint out of my brushes. Rinse in cool water, shape the brush back to it's original shape and then let air dry flat. When all the brushes are clean and laying flat, I go back and  add a touch of soap to the chisel edge of my flat, round and liner brushes. No need to add soap to any scruffy brush or dry brushing brush. Let dry overnight, organize your brushes, before you begin painting again.

I love painting! I try to paint every day. I am now in the process of getting ready for Christmas and have started painting ornaments and all the holiday items. I love Christmas! So this is the stuff that I LOVE to paint!