Santa Hard At Work

I decided I wanted to paint a mall Santa and I knew I needed to do it before it was too late. So I headed over to the Smith Haven Mall. There was a perfect looking Santa there (really classy) and I carefully scoped out a spot to stand where I wouldn't be in the way of any of the vendors with their carts, or get knocked into by any of the frantic shoppers. I couldn't get a direct view without being really obvious, but I found a pole I could lean against with a fairly good view.

Of course as soon as I started sketching Santa someone came and walked him away for a break. That gave me the opportunity to sketch the Santa setup while he was gone. He finally got back and I worked on him. That was the easy part but getting a child done was hard. Either the parents would be blocking my view, the child was screaming, or they didn't stay long enough. The child I did was mostly from memory because she didn't stay put very long. I think I made her a little too small, but that is one of the perils of plein air. lol

When I was almost finished Santa did come over during one of the lulls in traffic to see what I was doing...that just shows that his mind wasn't completely on the kids if he noticed me. lol

I thought about saving this for next year's Christmas card, but knowing me there will be several more opportunities before then to get something new done.

This is 5 x 7.