My niece and her husband, Arlee, went to Scotland last year.  Arlee was a photography major in College.  He has a beautiful artistic eye. One of the places they visited was an old Scottish church.  Arlee took many photos of the church, but one was just astounding.  There was a wall where the candles were lit.  The photo was of a gorgeous yellow light in the dark interior of the church.  And in the corner sat this Gargoyle, where he had been for hundreds of years.  He guarded the light.  I cropped out the his image to fit perfectly on one of my 8" x 8" canvases. The trick was getting him to look old and dusty, but still majestic and steadfast.

My son, Collin, gave me a dozen 8" x 8" canvases for Christmas a couple of years ago.  It's been so much fun to see how much life I can put onto a tiny canvas.  I also just love to have small oil paintings around my house.  The big ones are imposing and have no trouble holding their own.  Small canvases have a chip on their shoulder and have to work harder to get the same amount of respect.  I love to look into a forgotten corner and see one of these cheerful canvases smiling back at me.