non-hypothetical

I GOT THE GRANT. Heavy in planning mode now. Ordering supplies, securing house sitter, planning tickets and visa, browsing B&Bs. It's going to be Aberdeen in April, I'm excited! 

To balance out the good news, father-in-law has had a terminal diagnosis, so Mike is flying out this week to meet his siblings and visit their dad in North Carolina. It will probably be the last time they will all be together. I have nothing to say to that man that he would want to hear, so I am staying out of it. I just want the drama report when his wife tries to stop them from talking to him without her in the room (all phone calls have to be on speaker so she is included, and she controls the phone) and his brother finally has enough of it and throws her out by the scruff and seat of her pants.

Here are some of my practice pieces to test out canvas and get the hang of the 18th century color palette (vine black, lead white, vermilion [cad red light], scarlet sienna, raw sienna or yellow ochre, and Prussian blue):

No detail for this one, it's still drying and there was too much glare for a good shot

It's hard taking pictures of a painting at the correct angle, sorry. 

These are from 2 cameras; the detail shot is more accurate for color.

Painting my husband has been part of my therapy homework. When we were in college, I used to draw Mike all the time. I'd sketch him while he was doing schoolwork, or lying on the bed watching tv. He would let me drape him in sheets or put flowers in his hair when I needed illustration reference. I imagined having a home someday where we could hang art, and I would see him aging across the walls as the years went by. 

That didn't happen. He broke my heart and I threw all those drawings away. After reconciling a couple years later I tried to draw him again, but it brought up a lot of bad feelings and I threw those out, too. From time to time I would try again, but it didn't go very well.

Things are better now though (or different, anyway), and I was able to stare at his face for a lot longer before the bad feelings started resurfacing. Then we flopped down with our therapy workbook to fill out this week's chapter and ended up having a really good conversation. If his trip to NC goes well and he collects some green flags, we'll plan to travel to Scotland together. We haven't traveled alone, just the two of us, since having kids. If I get a bouquet of red flags next week, though, I'll go to Scotland alone and then start looking into moving to Canada. I am cautiously optimistic, though. He's a fun and easy travel companion.

Should probably gift this painting to his mom, though, just to keep it out of the trash if I get mad.