I love the whole process of creating a work of art, but I also love the other processes involved with painting.  I love framing and hanging the piece because it really gives me a sense of accomplishment when I sketch my ideas out and then they become a reality.  I've made my own frames in the past, which is also something I enjoy doing.  This painting wasn't made as a commission, but it was a painting that I'd been wanting to do for a long time.  I painted it over the course of two mornings and let it dry before I varnished it with Gamvar and framed it.  
 Today, I sketched out where I wanted to hang it and measured out the space.  I love working with my hands and using tools so it's all part of the fun.  I guess there's an aspect of interior design also.  Now, the painting is hanging across the room, on the same side from where the original clock hangs.  I love the way it looks and I'm going to enjoy looking at it for a long time.   

  I'm always on the hunt to try new oil painting products and I decided to try out Gamblin's Gamvar gloss varnish.  For anyone new to varnishing: varnish is used after a painting has dried and the artist wants to bring back a richer surface.  It brings back sunken in looking colors and there's many different types of varnish from matte to glossy.  I personally prefer a gloss varnish.  I had previously been using Winsor and Newton's gloss varnish.  
  The first thing I noticed about Gamvar is that it has almost no odor at all.  This is really nice since it's good to varnish paintings indoors with no windows open.  Varnishing outside or with windows open can cause dust and other particles to land on your canvas and set in when the varnish dries.
 The second thing I like about the Gamvar is that the bottle is really easy to open; this might sound like an obvious feature, but Winsor and Newton has bottles with a black safety top that are SO ANNOYING to open and I usually end up breaking the tops off (Get on that W+N).
  The Gamvar is also water-like in it's consistency, I really like this because a little bit of Gamvar spreads across the surface really nicely and goes a long way.  Other varnishes dry really quickly and get sticky and tacky almost instantly.
  I'm still waiting for the first coat of Gamvar to dry to see if I need another coat.  The images below show some progress shots as I used the Gamvar on some recent and older paintings.  I'm going to see how the Gamvar dries and might apply a second coat after 24 hours.
UPDATE:  After the first coat dried, the gloss lost a little shine so I decided to add a second coat.  The first coat dried after 24 hours so I applied another thin coat and now it looks great.

  I made a lot of progress on this new painting which I titled "The Pink Bow".  It's a cute little painting of a dog with a pink bow.  It still needs a lot of work, but I like it so far.  I also had time today to varnished some of the other painting that I did recently!

  Just put the finishing touches on my portrait and signed it!  I'll be varnishing it after it dries fully and then photographing it.  I said previously that I photograph my work before I varnish it, but I've switched methods so now I photograph it after I varnish it.
  On another note, my classes at the Ridgewood Art Institute start in 8 days and I'm very excited.  I'm also proud to announce that I'm going to be a TA for a class in NYC at the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art.  The ICAA class is titled, "Observational Drawing Skills For Architects & Designers and will be taught by John Woodrow Kelley.

*See the picture below for more details about the ICAA class.