After finishing all my pet portrait commissions for the year, I typically take off the entire month of December as a break. I do this for a few reasons. First and foremost is I need a break from commissions, to deal with holiday rush on Etsy, and to spend time with my family. The second is that I will not mail out any original or commissioned artworks during the Christmas holidays. The packages are far more likely to get caught up in the Christmas rush and get damaged, delayed, or lost. I decided this a few years ago after a painting that was mailed out was delayed by two weeks.

I also take this time to get some original works painted. Having original work is important to me as an artist from a creative perspective as well as a financial one. It is mostly my original animal paintings that sell as prints and merch in my online stores, so I need to focus on creating as many originals as possible. It also gives me a much needed break from painting for other people, so I can focus on something different.

This is my painting of a polar bear in an Arctic sunset. It was painted with acrylic paints on wood panel, and finished December 9 2022. A larger view of the painting can be seen in my Portfolio Here. It features two things I love most: vibrant almost full spectrum rainbow colors (everything except green), and dramatic backlighting. For the polar bear I used various public domain photographs for the pose, and the sunset was just a general vibe.

 The bear is being backlit by the bright Arctic sun, and is showing vibrant colors including yellow, red, magenta, hot pink, purple, violet, and blue. I chose this subject and style since I love dramatic backlighting and also painting “white” animals. The polar bear walking towards the sunset is aesthetically pleasing, but also represents the fact that this species is walking towards the sunset of its life as climate change and human interference make it hard for them to survive.

Art Prints, Home Decor, and More

This artwork is available for purchase in my various online stores. For great wall art and home decor options, please check out my Fine Art Print Store. In this store are 8 fantastic wall art options, including canvas prints, paper prints, metal prints, acrylic prints, wood prints, and tapestries. There are hundreds of framing and mat options, and each style comes in a wide range of sizes. There are also other great products such as blankets, pillows, cases, totes, puzzles, beach towels, and coffee mugs.

In my RedBubble Store this artwork is available on many cool gift and home decor items. There is a huge selection of apparel, as well as other cool gifts like acrylic blocks, mouse pads, laptop sleeves, stickers, bath mats, coasters, and other stuff.

I also have some products with this design in my Etsy store. Here you can find canvas prints, accent mugs, minky blankets, stainless steel tumblers, and jigsaw puzzles. I add more products all the time.