Warm and Cozy Holidays

Now that the holidays are starting to wind down, I have a little more time to tend to my work again. One of the new tools I'm looking forward to trying out is this really cool looking brush from Liquitex. This is from their Free-Style product line, and one of the neatest features is the unique shape of the handle, which makes the brush fit into the palm of a hand with unsupassed comfort. This particular brush is too stiff for watercolors, but it's perfect for acrylics or oils and the 2" size is just right for larger canvases. The folks over at Liquitex must have been reading my mind when they sent me this -- I've been looking for some new 2" brushes, and then suddenly the perfect brush arrives in the mail!

The 2" Liquitex Free-Style Brush is perfect for acrylics or oils!

Another surprise in the mail this month was this lovely portrait of me created by artist Scott Hamilton, aka @ArtBoy68. Scott's current art project consists of 100 portraits in 20 weeks, and he's archiving his progress on his blog. He bases the portraits in this series on the avatars of his twitter friends and on popular icons of social media. I'm flattered to be part of his project, and thrilled that he mailed the original portrait to me, which I've framed and hung in my office!

Portrait of @AnnieStrack, by @ArtBoy68

The photo that I use for my social media avatars is from this image of my husband and me, photograghed by Kathleen DesHotel. My friend Kathleen is an arts reporter for the Times-Picayune, and snapped this photo a few years back at charity function in Slidell. At the time, I was working on a charity art project that involved bird bouses. Funny how art projects connect us all to one another!

Photo of Annie and Brian Strack, by Kathleen DesHotel