painting folkart for Christmas

By special request by one of my readers, I have posted some of the (many) folk-art Christmas ornaments that I have painted over the years.  I started painting in or about 1996.  Painting is an act of self-discipline and repetition for me.  I started taking folk-art painting classes to exercise the right side of my brain (which is regularly overwhelmed by the rigourous workouts given to the left side of my brain being the analytical side) and as a way of getting me out of the office.  (I had discovered that my legal practice absorbed all of my "leisure time" so I needed an activity that required my attendance).  I discovered taking folk-art classes could be quite a social activity as all the class participants learned step-by-step within the class, all seated in a square.  Regretfully, there are no classes offered currently that I am aware of in my city so my painting is more in spurts to respond to seasonal demands!

Here's an early project completed in a class:

This ornament shows my progress from another class at a later date:

I painted this ornament (along with others donated for a Christmas tree) and kept this one for K's first Christmas ornament:

The remaining ornaments have been painted on my own, often based upon patterns found within folkart painting books: