Bad Santa!

So my 'long' project last week was this beastly fellow. I was quite taken with him because of his big black boots. He looks like Santa's evil twin to me. See the original that I was painting from below.

This guy really fought me tooth and nail when I was trying to figure out how big to make him and work out the shape relationships. In the end I had to give in and make him a bit smaller than I had planned.

Then when I was actually painting him I kept trying to rush. It seems I never fully learn the lesson: Form a mental image and take a breath *before* you set brush to paper! I was not able to be as accurate to the original as I wanted, but during the points when I was able to loosen up and paint freely, it felt good and natural. Not a bad tradeoff.