Happy Holidays! - 2013 version

"I must say, you've picked a fine time to get the 'flu!"

Against all the odds, I found time to create another drawing for my annual Xmas card, hard copies exchanged with a few and this electronic version sent to many!



The reason the odds were unfavorable is that I only started drawing on November 30 and managed to finish on December 1. Usually, I take a leisurely few weeks of working on the picture, on and off.




For once, I moved beyond using oil pastels and ventured into the territory known as "mixed media".

What this means for the current effort is that, due to time constraints, I used watercolor pencils for some sections and oil pastels for the rest.

I also shot the photo using the macro feature on my camera; I don't usually do this and am not sure it was the best idea; the resulting photo seems darker than I'm used to (see the posts from past years).

As for the subject matter, this idea came to me around the time I was drawing my 2012 picture; I usually have an idea or two in reserve.

I'll leave it up to you to decide if Santa is genuinely ill or just faking - because he wants the night off. (Although, he does have dark, purple circles under his eyes... I know, because I put them there!)

If you look closely, you'll see that even the reindeer are rolling their eyes at the events unfolding before them.

So...to one and all, Happy Holidays and all the best for 2014!


Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer