I can’t think of a better way to wrap up a very challenging year than with the birth of our first great grand daughter, (we have four great grand sons already). Our very first grandchild now has a daughter of his own, with this eight pound girl being born on December 27. His wife and baby are well and they are all quite happy. I would so love to be making portraits of this little one but she is not nearby as her daddy is serving our nation in the military.

I have been working on a still life for my art group meeting in January. I have wanted to paint more still life paintings but usually cannot make myself abandon my portraits. I will try to attach a photo before I post this but the painting is not quite finished.

I am working on two large paintings and a small portrait of my grandson. I still have the miniatures in progress and I should finish a landscape I began last year. I have a lot of doctor appointments lined up and my dear friends hope I will start a class soon. I am thankful I am well enough to continue my work.

We are looking forward to a visit with our AFS daughter and her daughter will be with her. This week I got up the courage to clean the portrait I did of this girl when she lived with us so many years ago. It was really dirty but I realized it had never been varnished so I was reluctant to clean it with solvents, no matter how mild. I got up my courage and used a moistened towel wrapped around my finger and I cleaned a small area at a time. The grime and dirt came off and it looked great. I definitely don’t recommend this procedure to anyone but it seems to have worked fine for me. Then I brushed the surface with polycrylic. This is the stuff that made me so ill last year. I made the room warm and then opened the windows for plenty of ventilation but that made the surface dry too fast and I had nasty brush marks that I couldn’t smooth out. I asked my husband for his finest sand paper to carefully knock off the highest parts, then varnished it again. It took four layers but the final one is perfect. I am thinking Nelly will want to take this home with her. We are really looking forward to their visit.

Well, I am going to try to add the photo of the still life. Later this week, if I can find time, I will post some of the other work I am doing. Till then, hugs and Shalom, Diana.