Bunny-leaf ladies

Sundays rule! Stunning sunny day today with a chill, but as previously stated, I am never happier than when swathed in woollies. Spent my first shift at Ritchie's gallery savouring the first time I have been paid to paint (rather than selling a painting), chatting to a selection of customers and meeting a mad local. I was accosted by said local as I was locking up and he gave me a brief synopsis of the local buildings and what had previously occupied their sites; who lived in what building, who they were related to and where they now resided if they were former occupants. This would have been fine if he hadn't, for reasons unknown, decided that I was Ritchie, and called me by his name every other word; truly surreal. For the record, it is probably possible to find two humans less alike than me and Ritchie, but not much given gender and height difference; amazing how context colours opinions.

I'd been doodling some ladies with leaf/bunny-ear hats/hair and decided to go with a few of them on my first ever box canvases (not entirely true, I did one last year for the lovely people who put us up for the first few weeks on Arran), but boy how time flew! I had it in mind to do three wee boxes and then sketch out and even start a bigger board. Managed two boxes and that was pushing over closing time; I didn't have a watch as usual and when I finished the first and checked time on the speaking clock I was amazed that two hours had already elapsed. Not even a cup of tea by that point!

Besides being a different way of painting to board it was quite easy to get into the swing of things and I left pleased with what I had accomplished; it would have been a bit mortifying to leave no trace of my artistic endevours for the day and have to mutter excuses! One lady showed interest and asked the price of my first one when it was not fifteen minutes on display so I hope they will go to good homes soon. The box canvases at that size (5x5") are very cute and can just sit on their own as a wee object; I like that, and they look good in little groups. I even managed to get the potato prints in, although it was weirder printing on a moving surface and it made a freaky sucking noise I am not accustomed to working on board...

Now my plans for the next picture at home are in disarray; I was all set to go for 'The Plaza Ballroom', which is a seascape with crinolined lady in a boat, and snowflakes, but now I have bunny-ears on the brain and can't help thinking how cool it would be to merge the two ideas; the angels with painted faces and the kind of 1920s vibe of the bunny ladies. The bunny ears, which are also kind of petals, are inspired by my potato print shape that I call 'bunny flower' (funnily enough) and the very cool rubber swimming hats with 3D flowers that I used to soooo covet as a teenager. Thinking of aqua, orange and pink colour scheme, kind of like a diner/ice cream shop look, or Bakelite; I am mixing my design decades here but who cares!

I am dreaming of how much fun it will be to never get up and go to a cashmoneyjob again... to paint for a living and have only myself and Stu to worry about (and a whole heap of customers, but there's no escaping them...). Insert dreamy Sunday song here.