'GIRLS' NIGHT OUT' 2 ft x 3 ft acrylic on canvas
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D o you know what I've realized since painting this? I've never had a 'Girls' Night Out'. I am a pretty solitary soul. If I were to round up three friends and go out 'clubbing' I would want it to be just like in this painting... lighthearted, sparkling, fancy, the best of ourselves. I want to climb into the picture and be one of these girls! I just re-read this and I sound pathetic. Bahahaha

1. I set my canvas and paints up in the back yard on a gorgeous sunny day. I painted a light blue background, ready for anything. Quickly, these four women sketched out of my brush.	2. Here I just continued with the idea, which at this point, wasn't formed yet, I was just going with it. The giant drink in the red one's hand might explain the look on her face, haha. At this point my younger son came out and called them drunk lesbians. (Yeah? Well what of it!)
3. Here my light blue background gives way to black, and I work on the red one's face.	4. Now I tackle the blue one's face, but I'm not where I want to be yet. Oh but I did put her in a party dress. And gave her some arms. And what the hell, a drink too.
5. Ah... that's getting there. I like the blue one now, and I tweak the glass in the red one's hand.	6. This is a close up of the red one's face, at a point where I wasn't happy with her mouth so I painted it shut! tee hee hee hee
7. Thaaaaaaat's better! Here I've also worked on skin tone and highlights.	8. I've pretty much left the other two alone so far, but decide to start paying attention to them. I put the one being kissed in party clothes and I tone down the kisser's chin, and start working on her skin tone.
9. The all black background has sort of painted me into a corner, ar ar, and although I don't know why yet, I start painting some blue behind the kisser. I've come to learn that action leads to inspiration. Staring at it without making a move is rarely where it's at. Risk it, it's only paint! ;)	10. I wouldn't have envisioned the room had I kept it black. One idea unfolds into another. Here, I'm starting to think maybe they are at a house party, and on the light blue, I've brushed in a kitchen counter. I've walled in a room with a green wall, a door, a couch, a painting on the wall...
11. Then as quickly as I thought it was a good idea, the kitchen disappeared. Wasn't sure what would replace it, just knew I didn't want it.	12. Then the idea of a coat check window hit me so I went with that. Also, you may notice a sunlight beam on the blue one's elbow. The idea occured to me when I photographed the painting in a sunbeam, but alas, I couldn't reproduce it convincingly and didn't want to mess with it anymore so it was short lived.
13. Some curtains that lead to another room, a chair with a woman, some pictures on the wall, hey this is a spiffy joint. Ok. Here's where the blue one's left hand is starting to bug me. It's behind the glass and I can't think of a good reason for that. I mean, it could happen in real life, for a brief moment in time, someone's hand could land like that. But it wasn't how I wanted her immortalized.	14. So...I began what turned into a two %$#^@ hour journey to get her fingers interlocked. After a while, the whole painting was bugging me, grrr.... so I took my frustrations out on the couch and the carpet. As it turns out, the carpet totally cheered me up, I loved it that shade of red! As for the couch, well, at least it wasn't disappearing into the wall anymore, but I wasn't done with it.
15. See? Now it's red, like the carpet on the other side. I like it, I find it ties the painting in together real nice. Happy Accident ;) I left the area in front of the couch aqua, just 'cause. At this point, I figure 'Right on! I'm done!' And I show it to my older son, Leon. My kids are my best critics 'cause they don't know the meaning of holding back. They love telling me where it's at. So I said, "Check it out, Leon, I'm done." And he scanned it and said, "Uh, no. I mean, what's with the woman in the chair looking at them?"	16. So I tell him, "Oh her... yeah, well sometimes, painters just keep things sharp in the foreground and just sort of get more impressionistic with the surrounding details..." And he goes, "Yeah, I know that, but this, well she looks like some kind of alien looking at them!" Bahahahahaa I love this kid. He's dead right, too. I enlarged it to show you. I chuckled at that for the rest of the night as I worked on changing her.
17. Here's what I came up with, much better. (Thanks Leon) :) Toned down the harsh white armrests too while I was at it.	18. The red one's fingers holding the glass needed tweakin' and after pullin' my hair out over the blue one's hands, it didn't take long for me to decide to give her some evening gloves! hahaha Ok, nowwwwww I'm done. Click on it :)

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