Here's my first crack at a larger painting, titled "Market with Yellow Umbrella." It's roughly 20" × 26".  Tonight, I just wanted to block in with a bunch of color and get it going. I didn't care much for getting it exact or right - that comes later, and I'll try a few new things with the detail work. I know how I want to approach this and I just wanted it to be fun. So I was bouncing around in my chair to different songs from a playlist and just having a good time with it. Note to self: cerulean and cobalt blue don't play well together. In a big painting like this, big brushes are needed. Which means a lot of paint, and that gets expensive. A tube of Golden® acrylic costs me $10 - $18 a tube, depending on the color and the size of the tube. So when I decide to start taking commissions, I'm thinking that I'll charge a flat fee and then charge separately for materials. In this case: | Canvas | $20 | | Paint (4 tubes total) | $60 | | Total Expense | $80 |
So if I charged $200 flat fee, the painting would be $280. Fair price? Beats me. I'll find out. I'll find out in a few days how my cards have done in their retail locations. I decided to wait and see what's happening in the market before I painted more cards, so I took a break, which was nice. And coming back to it tonight was great. Felt good... I hope to have this wrapped up before I take a few days of vacation next week. I'll be heading south to a friend's house to visit and take a bunch of source pictures for upcoming works. | 
