WIP for Today

OK, this is my first attempt to 'paint' the infamous Hasty Herman since he passed away this last November.  I have been holding off the urge to PAINT him till the time seemed right.  Today was the day...but I have fussed with it most of the afternoon. When it's your own dog or child or husband or relative, I feel you tend to be more fastidious with the painting.  The painting got to that 'walk away' point and it had too much wet paint on it...I thought I would get back to it tomorrow or the next day. Crummy photo here, but in a hurry to pack up and get going. And as I was leaving, I was making mental notes of what was right and what was wrong about this one...now I will probably dream about it.  I like this pose so well, that it may have to be painted again on a much larger scale.  There is a lot of detail in his eyes that I want to capture and tell about.

Today was a perfect day to be in the studio, it is a blizzard out there.  Snow drifts up to my knees...I shoveled a walkway to the gate and two hours later, it's like I never did. 

BTW - saw a little 'visitor' in my studio several days ago..haven't caught him or her yet.  There is nothing to eat out there, but I wonder which portfolio or drawer they went after for bedding because they tend to either bring some mouse poison to keep in the bed (which is brought in from the garage or shop) - or evidence of their living quarters shows up way later, where they are vacated and all that is left is their housekeeping.  For the life of me, the only place they can enter is the barn door, which has a reveal problem around the edge and very slim slit, but they can still be houdini's and get through. Every once in awhile, I stop the music and listen...you can often hear them, but you can't pinpoint where they are.  Stay tuned!