This is the third year in a row that I've done custom paintings for Christmas gifts for family members. For some reason, everyone wants one! So I have been painting like crazy. Good crazy.

I'll be posting a new pic every day or so, and I'll start off with Peter's. He wanted a rainforest. A rainforest! Nothing like something simple and uncomplicated, huh? I told him that would take a while, and he pointed to the painting I did for his father that now hangs above our fireplace and said, "You know, just do what you did for Daddy, but in a rainforest instead." I don't know whether to be honored that my kids seem to think nothing is impossible for me to do, or frustrated at the complete lack of concept of the amount of work that goes into a project like this. So Petey, you get your rainforest.

One really good thing about challenging myself to pick up the brushes again after 6 months is that I have a huge looming deadline to contend with, and a large number of paintings to finish in that time. (I also have some stuffed animals I wanted to try to make too, but that's a story for another day.) The good thing about all this pressure is that it forces me to make the most of all the time I have, and to declare something to be done sooner than I would have normally. And they really ARE done, it's not me slacking off; it's that ordinarily I would fool around with something that was done for another week, and think about it, blah blah blah. It's a rainforest, Peter saw me working on it and loves it, and I'M PAINTING EVERY DAY. That's all I need to know.