My lovely friend Teresa wanted me to paint this picture of her as a Valentine’s Day gift. She couldn’t wait that long, so it’s not a secret anymore!

I can’t get a photo that picks up all the colors, but hopefully I’ll be able to get a scan soon that does it justice.

I’ve been reading – no, studying – Color and Light by James Gurney lately, and have been gathering the courage to begin experimenting with the principles in the book. This is my first shot at non-comic coloring. I had a limited palette of about 40 colored pencils and didn’t allow myself more than about 30 seconds on a quick pencil outline. I used this photo by Flickr user Kiran Bhat. as a reference and played with it in Photoshop to learn what highlights and colors the naked eye skipped over, but whose inclusion in the drawing gave it significantly more depth and realism. The result is less than perfect, but I’m beginning to see the gaps in my artistic education (or complete lack thereof), and am excited to fill them in.