green wave...

Earlier this year Landon was looking back on some of my old blog posts & came across the painting I made for Dominic when he graduated from the fire academy. 

Landon asked me if I would make him a wave painting for his room, only in green. He had the perfect spot to hang it- a completely blank wall over his desk. I will admit that it took me a while to get up the courage to start a new painting. Acrylic paint is still not a medium that I am super comfortable working with even thought I have created a few paintings over the years. If I'm being honest, there is a level of anxiety that comes over me when I start a new project with an infrequently used medium. 

I put it off for a while. I even considered buying him a painting by another artist. But I knew that a painting done by someone else wouldn't have the same meaning as one painted by his own mom. I thought it might make a nice Christmas gift for him too. So as fall came around I realized that I had better get started. 

This was the result, a green wave with a sunset sky in Landon's favorite color...

Ever since he was a little kid Landon has been very interested in all the presents under the Christmas tree. He checks every day to see if there are any newly wrapped presents, he checks the tags to see who they might be for & inventories how many are for him. He had a feeling that he was getting his painting this year. It doesn't take a detective to identify a wrapped canvas. 

While Landon was anxiously awaiting the day that he could open his present, I was anxiously hoping he would like what I created. If you know me at all you know that giving people gifts & watching them open them are truly my favorite things. I put a lot of thought into gifts & try to make sure that the recipient feels special when they open a gift just for them. It brings me such joy. Add the anticipation of whether he would like the painting or not to the excitement of gift giving & I think I was as eager for him to open it as he was.

To my great joy, Landon loved the painting. As soon as we finished opening all the presents on Christmas Day he asked if we could go hang it up in his room. A little while later & he called me into his room & showed me that he had configured all the LED lights in his room & the lights on his computer to match & compliment the painting. He let me get a few pictures as he tried out different lighting colors...

I am so happy that he likes the painting. My heart overflows.