I had some ideas about how I thought the 50th Birthday Celebration would go but  didn't know exactly. At first I thought I wanted to do 50 paintings of individual people. But, after seeing that you sent in more than one person per photo I changed it to 50 portraits or 50 faces in 50 days. (I said I'd be flexible.) That way I could paint couples or multiple people and still reach 50. I liked that change even though it wasn't my intention to begin with. So, I've finished 50 faces in 33 paintings.

It's been a great challenge to do this. I've spent at least 125 hours painting these portraits. That's 12 and a half 10 hour days, over 2 work weeks, or painting day and night for a little over 5 days. I've done images I wouldn't have usually tried, I have images I can use for my portfolio, I've pushed myself to paint, and I got to celebrate with some fine people. 

Here is my last portrait for the celebration. I haven't done a self portrait in about 7 years. I don't much like to but I think I will every birthday, it's a great record.

In the beginning I said that I wasn't giving the paintings to those who turned photos in. Actually, when I started I didn't know what I wanted to do with them. I just started and thought I'd figure out the details later. And, I've figured it out now.

For those who participated and want, I will give everyone their painting with a couple requests. 

First, if you live far away and I have to mail the painting, go to my website here and pay for shipping. I'm doing a flat fee of $12.00. Your's might be less than that and other's will be more, this is so that I don't have to worry about a separate price for every single painting. This also saves me from spending a few hundred dollars on shipping; that wouldn't be much of a celebration for me to do that. If you don't want the portrait it won't hurt my feelings. I've been through some rough art critiques before so I'm pretty tough. 

Second, if you live near by, I invite you to my 50th Birthday Celebration to pick up your painting. It's an Open House type of celebration from 7-10 pm on Friday the 31st. (8567 NE Crouch Road) This way all the paintings are out of my studio in a quick time frame. 

Third, I'd like you to send a donation for a local Cameron charity, click here. I haven't decided between the women's shelter or the food pantry, or to split it. But, what we gather this week I will give. So, by Friday night you can make a donation ($25, $50, $75) here. I usually never sell a painting for less than $800 so this is actually a good deal. If you are totally strapped and can't make a donation the painting is still yours.

If you didn't get a portrait but just enjoyed the journey and want to be part of the Celebration Donation you can help too. Just go to this link as well. 

So as the 50th Birthday Celebration comes to an end, I just have to say THANK YOU to all of you who were brave enough to send in photos and those of you who just liked seeing the new paintings. Either way, it's been a fun 50th birthday celebration for me. I hope it's been for you as well.

Before you go you might want to check out this post. To continue the fun, there will be some collaborative, artsy experiences every Friday. 

These are sisters. The photo I worked from wasn't the best and I think that the one girl on the left really had some teeth missing but I couldn't tell for sure. So, she got some teeth. Hope it's okay that I took creative license. 

Nearing the end to the 50th Birthday Celebration. Tomorrow, I'll tell you how I'm going to wrap it up.

Today's 50th Birthday Celebration was hard and easy at the same time. It was hard because the image was such a low resolution that it came out only about an inch square. Tiny! The only way I could do it was because her features were so easy. Kind of classic. So that's what saved me. Actually, I don't know how well I did compared to her in person, since I've never met her before. But, I think I did as good as my abilities would let me. I also don't think I'll challenge myself that much again. Painting #32.

Here is today's 50th Birthday Celebration. It's kind of a redo. I did the girl on the left earlier in the 50th celebration. I knew doing all three would take a lot of time so I did her by herself. I also tilted her head upright. Not all paintings are great and that one was kind of a fail. So, I just felt I wanted to redo it, with all three of them.

It's a mother and her daughters. Nice. And I even did it during daylight hours. Amazing.

Here we are, the 30th painting for my 50th birthday celebration. 

Here's today's 50th Birthday portrait painting. Logan and Erica. I have a few things to fix on it but I'll do it when I get home. Having FHE at Leila and Sky's home right now. Hard to believe I finished this before 3 am. Nice. 

I got this photo early in the 50th Birthday Celebration and it surprised me that this one was sent in. It's not a high quality photo - faded and out of focus. Just a snap shot really but looking at it makes me smile because she loves it despite what it isn't. It makes me think of those moments when love is really good, despite what life is or isn't. And it's usually not the moments you think they're going to be that make you cherish them. So, I wanted to do this one even though I knew it would be hard to do, because I know that feeling.

Since it was a hard photo to work from I decided to make it a miniature. It's about 2" x 2". It makes it a little easier to deal with when there's a lack of clear detail. I don't think I've ever painted this small, and I've even tweaked it a little after this photo. But, this is the photo I'm posting until I take the for real photos of the paintings. 

Painting #27 for my 50th Birthday Celebration. The photo for this painting was sent in by Kathryn as a tribute to her friend who passed away this week after his battle with cancer. A thoughtful gesture and remembrance. 

50th Birthday Celebration • 50 Portraits in 50 Days. Painting 26.

Happy Monday. It's still Monday for me. Here's our portrait for today. Time to upload images on to Shannon's Studio FB page. Read this post about how-to.

50th Celebration portraits, here it is. 

Here's today's 50th birthday celebration portrait. Dacia's darling baby. Loved doing it, some are so easy to paint. 

Just to let everyone know, I haven't done the high res photos yet. It takes some work to do that and make it all the right color, etc. But, I will be doing that at some point then I'll send you the image. And I have some ideas about celebrating at the end but I'll tell you about that later.

Time to upload images on to Shannon's Studio FB page. Read this post about how-to.

This painting is from a photo I didn't even know was sent in. I didn't find it until I went looking for another one and stumbled upon it. I've been sent photos in a lot of different places and for whatever reason I didn't see this. I think this is such a cute one. It's pretty old, from a couple that was married 40 years ago, I think. We just celebrated our 30th anniversary last week. Being married that long you simple hardly remember a life without your spouse, at least for me. Anyway, it's the 22nd painting.

Oh, and apologizes for not posting a painting yesterday. It's not that I didn't paint. I did. I just didn't paint any portraits. I did the rest of the 17 temple box accents that I needed to finish. That story is here. 

Here's today's 50 portraits in 50 days. 

Here's today's portrait. It's the Boyfriend. I couldn't resist when he sent it in. I'm crazy about him and he's just so handsome!

Ha, ha! Painting done two days in a row before 8:00. I don't know what's come over me. Partly I did it early because it's date night. I'm posting while we are driving to the movies. Avengers, if you want to know. I've seen it but the Boyfriend hasn't. Anyway, here's 19 of 50. If you want to join in with a photo go to Shannon's Studio FB page.

Hard to believe that I'm not up until 2 in the morning finishing a painting. But, it's true, I started early today. No vacation. No wedding. No conferences getting the better of me. 

Tonight one of my daughters got married and it's been a busy couple of days. I took a little cat nap this evening around 11 so I could stay awake to paint. Here is 17 of 50. Night.

 It's 2:45 am and I am finally posting. I don't think I even started todays until 11ish. But it was fun to do with such a beautiful child. I still touched it up some more after I took the photo, I always find mistakes after the photo. Well, hope you enjoy 16 of 50 birthday celebration.