First one is a painting of my husband's cousin's baby son Cash who lives near Seattle (I do hope to visit one day). I had a couple of photos to choose from and I picked the one where he is sleeping with one of his little hands under his cheek and the other on his tummy:

The other commission is also pretty interesting. During our participation in Harvey House Market, we met the president of the Barstow chamber of commerce who happened to have an idea for a painting. His mom (we met her as well) has a photo of herself in Icelandic national costume (they are from Iceland) - and that's what I am painting. Here is the preliminary sketch with two different background solutions: dark red and golden.

And another shot of the gold background - in different light conditions:

I also brushed the gold paint on a little thicker on the right side than on the left, letting the red show through or covering it. At this point, I'm not sure which background i will stick to. I like the red for the energy but I also like the way that gold plays with the details on her clothing. Maybe something in between? Like the left side of the last image?  In any case, it is a very interesting project and it smells like masking fluid on those lace sleeves...