Great job!!! Very pretty Santas!!

Once again you have done a fantastic job on those jolly faces. ha I like the beards too. Trying to imagine how they will work on the wreath. ~Anj

Hi Anj, the round one fits an 18" wreath perfectly. I think I may have to drill two small holes to secure it though. I am "stretching" an 18" wreath to make it an oval, I may have to go to a 20". Glad you liked them.

Ok thanks, I get it now. ha Hard to guage the size from the picture. That is going to look cool. :) ~Anj

Welcome back, PF. We've missed you. Why have you been gone so long? You know even if you don't have a project to show, you can always come chat about other things with us on the conversations side. Hint hint. ;o)

Looks like you have been busy painting, and they are gorgeous. Love the way your beards and faces come out. Those will look so pretty in a wreath. Once again, an absolutely breathtaking project.

Luvs

Your Santas are wonderful, I like them just like they are , Santas are one of my favorite things to paint.
I like detail work and sometimes take to long. You have done really great with the eyes and nose and also the beard.
Keep up good work. Carolyn

Hi yall, I have had a very busy summer. I went to a convention in Columbus Ohio (Heart of Ohio Tole Convention) and had a terrific time. Took a few classes, one with Brenda Stewart but mostly spent time at the trade show. Yall would have loved it!! So many of the national teachers you know from the books you purchase were there and they had so much stuff to buy. Am taking a class with Peggy Harris end of this month and it is getting closer to Christmas so I am painting more. Love to paint Santas, too, Carolyn. The ones above are patterns from Shirley Wilson. She paints very loose, using the background as the basecoat for her santas. I am a little more tight but am working on it. I use the rake brush a lot on beards and hairs and I am also one to dampen my piece before floating color. Luvs, I always check in but never seem to have time to stop and chat but will keep in touch from time to time. I always check what yall are doing and we sure have some good painters on here!

I am leaving for New York tomorrow and will travel through Pennyslvania so I hope to pick up some unique items to paint on.

later, bebe

Wow those santas are great.You're a great painter,and you painted one of my favorite subjects.
TFS
Kathi

Thanks again. They are really not hard to do, just basecoat, float the colors on and using that magical rake brush to paint on the beard and hair. I taught the one on top this weekend during a 4 hour class for my club. The bottom one I used the background for the basecoat under the beard. Love painting them!! They are both much bigger than they appear. The top one is 12" x 14" and the bottom fits an 18" wreath.
B

PF, how did you do your mottled background? Is it sponged on or stippled with a scruffy brush? I see the multi colors in it, which looks really nice and much more interesting than just a solid background.

You are much too modest--we can all buy a rake brush, but knowing how to make it do beards like that takes some skill and talent too I think. And all the soft shading around the eyes and on the cheeks comes with lots of practice, not something easily accomplished by an amateur me thinks! LOL

As I said before, they are just gorgeous. ;o)

Luvs

Wonderful job. These are Jillybeans designs aren't they? I have painted them too and are so fun. However I didn't use the rake brush. I will have to try that.

Beautiful! It can't be easy to do hair....well, any of it, for that matter! :-)

Those Santa's are precious!

OK....now I have a really 'DUH' question.

For a year now, since you posted your flamingo ornaments, I have been looking for a rake brush. My mind envisioned a rake! So the hairs on the brush would be kind of seperated. Well, now after googling, I feel really dumb!

Is this the kind of rake brush you spek of?

Here is a link that might be useful: Rake brush

Luvs, the background is done with Desert Turquoise, a medium rose and a blue gray and a flesh color. I started off with the flesh color where I thought the face would be, then brought in the rose, the turquoise and then the blue. I blended them where they met. The trick is to keep the edges wet with paint, the same as you would with oils.

Wduke2, these are Shirley Wilson patterns. I love her backgrounds but I like doing my own faces. She paints very loosely with no hard edges. Check out her website.

Gram, that is a filbert rake but it does the same job. However, I buy the rakes or sometimes called a comb brush, at Michaels. They are Soft Grips and only cost $2.99 or when you get them on sale, $1.99.

I am on vacation in Pennyslvania and leaving for New York tomorrow but when I get home I will send a pic of my brush. It is so beautiful up here on this mountain but gets a bit chilly - the other night it was 32 degrees and a bear tried to get into my SUV.

Talk to yall soon.