I find working on commission pieces extremely challenging. My normal process of choosing what I want to paint does not apply and more planning, analyzing and second guessing myself come into the process. Instead of just looking at a painting from my perspective, I try to think how someone else will view it. Then everything gets messy. I need to pull back and only look at my painting from my eyes/feelings/perspective/experience and stop trying to think how someone else will view something.

I am painting an anniversary present for a friend of a friend that I have never met which is a landscape of a place I have never been AND I do not have great photos. Thank God for the internet and Google Earth. I am trying to capture that newlywed feeling of Hope and Love.

I hope to finish this today. My challenge at this point is to not rework everything again and add the backlit highlights and shadows. Wish me luck. Since this is a surprise, I will not be posting images until much later.