Mozart "The Magic FLute"

This is part of a series  that I did from the Cornerstone list of the 20 most performed operas in the US.  It's a poster (without all the poster stuff yet) for Mozart's The Magic Flute (it's number 10 on the list if you were wondering).  

Let me just say that this is one of my most favorite pieces that I have ever done!  I cannot tell you why, it just is.  I think it's actually going to replace my Beowulf painting as my profile picture, which I never thought would happen.  This was one of those pieces that just painted itself, it's just a really fun, joyful, if I can use that word, piece for me.  All I could do was smile and giggle when I finished  I was actually able to go home and sleep when it was done, instead of spending two hours trying to wind down (Yes, this does happen, I don't set the time, it just happens, and it's always two hours.  Whether I've been out with friends or shopping or painting, I can never go to sleep right after.  Eventually I started noticing a pattern, and . . . No matter how late, no matter how tired, it's always two hours.  Yes, I know I'm ridiculous, thanks.). It was so nice.  

I've really come to appreciate Mozart through this painting, too.  I created a Mozart station on Pandora (Great, amazing, wonderful site if you haven't found it already) while I was painting, which was kind of appropriate, I felt, and he was/is awesome!  So is  Baccherini, and Haydn, and especially Paganini.  Jury's still out on Liszt, my internet connection hasn't been great so I haven't actually heard one of his songs in it's entirety, but I think we're gonna be cool with him, too.

More Houses Along the Bering Sea

Yeah, I love these views from the sea.  I've done three or four of them, and I don't think I'll be getting tiered of them anytime soon.  There's something really cool about houses buried in four feet of snow.  And it's even better with these ones because of the colors.  There are very few "regular" colored houses in Nome.

Iditarod Dog Lots

Ha!  I'm back!  I've been scanning, so I thought it was about time that I put some stuff up.  This is a painting that I did as a part of my Alaska journal.  It's more of a side painting, I don't think it'll actually be in the journal.  This is where the mushers put up their dogs once they had crossed the finish line, and before they shipped everyone back home.  Each musher got half a railroad car to store their dog's food, bedding, etc.  that they had shipped to Nome before the race started.  It's empty because I took the picture before any the teams had come in; no one was allowed to photograph the teams except the official race photographers.