Pet Portrait Commission Completed

 

Portrait for Emily V.  - these are the 7 pets that have been a part of my client's mom and dad's family during their family's lifetime.  It is painted in acrylic and measures 20" x 30".  I will make a floater frame - for which the material is arriving today.  I have enjoyed putting this together - 

it has turned out perfectly! 

I will be adding the 'up close and personal' photos of each pet below to show detail of the animal as soon as my email or iPhone communicate with one another - always some kind of issue it seems with iPhone these days.  

This was such a huge challenge for me to paint!  I have angsted over it - but in the end it turned out exactly as I hoped it would.  Many hours, lots of painstaking planning occurred on this one.  The photos, as you can believe, were not as helpful as I wanted..many were old photos of pets who have passed.  Of the 7, only three are still with the family.  

The black and tan dog, Casey - 3rd from left, is a three legged dog and the 

client wanted that reflected in the painting. 

She lost her limb to cancer, was given only 6 mos to live 

and has lived on for 2 years already. 

What a nice gift of life.

NOW, I can't wait to move on with some weaving and some more acrylic painting.  The studio awaits!

Truffle

Calvin

Casey

Chili

Wyatt

Reese and Flickerfoot

Thanks for stopping by.  Feel free to leave a comment.

Day 6 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Cloey Again"

6" x 6"

oil on wrapped canvas

Sometimes when painting a likeness, I get very picky - 

not perfectionistic, but picky.

Day 2's painting did NOT

have that 'soul and spirit' that I like

to put in my animal portraits.

Therefore - round 2.

I like this one better.

I started with the eyes, as I often do.

and moved on.

If I don't have a good photo of eyes,

or the eyes don't have that glimmer

the finished painting 

often lacks that LIFE ~ 

because I need to see it

not just feel it.

Painted the nose in three different spots, before

I was satisfied today.

White fur has always been a challenge

and that's just 

what these 30 days are - 

a PAINTING CHALLENGE,

right?

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Number 3

"Gumball"

6" x 6"

oil on pine veneer

Gumball belongs to a past student and friend, Amy, 

who lives in 

eastern Colorado.  

He is a Hampshire hog..the kind that are black with the 

white band around their middle.  

Her son, Mick, named 

this little guy, who I imagine isn't so little anymore.

Last night, as I was pacing back and forth, 

wondering if UPS would

ever show up, 

I knew that if my Jerry's Artarama package arrived,

I would have a 'new lease on life' in the studio

tomorrow. Well, way past 7 PM he showed up! YAY!!

My hope came true...I was feeling pretty good with my

new 'radiant opaques' from Gamblin.

They are quite awesome!

ONE OF THE BIGGEST REASONS I SELL MY WORK

IS TO REPLENISH EXPENSIVE PAINTS, 

BRUSHES, AND CANVASES ~

so I can continue to paint!!

Leslie Saeta is hosting this challenge of 30 in 30, see sidebar for 

a place to leave here and go there.

Thanks for stopping by!

30 Paintings in 30 Days - DAY 2

"Cloey"
6" x 6"
oil on pine veneer

Cloey belongs to my nephew and his wife.  She is a muted calico.  Quite tricky
to paint her...my value scale was all in the same range for awhile.
Heavy paint.  About noon, I thought I was finished, but went to lunch
and thought about how it needed to be changed,
came home and changed it.
Now I like it better.
Number 2 - all through!

I would like to take this time
to invite you to 'like' my Pattie Wall - Fine ART Studio page 

where I share my art and art thoughts -
which is building slowly - 

on Facebook HERE.
I would like to increase my 'fans'
(although I would like a better word for 'fans')
 to 200 'likes' this month.
THANKS!!

If you would like to see more art from the 1100 or so artists
participating in this challenge, go to
http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com
If you are a participant and are stopping by,
thanks for visiting - there are so many to pick from.

Numero Uno - 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

"Miss Priss"

6" x 6"

oil on pine veneer

NUMBER ONE!!!  Woohoo - Happy New Year!  I hit the ground runnin' today

and got this first one done in no time!  I had DH cut me down some great 

cabinet remnants I picked up a few years ago, (thanks Linda).  They are cut into

small 6" x 6" squares for this challenge.  I sanded them all, primed them with gesso,

then covered them with a colored coat of acrylic - this one is an eggplant purple underneath.

Miss Priss belongs to my cousin in Texas, Debbie.  She has LOTS of doggies, and rescues 

and advertises LOST dogs alot.  She (and her daughter and niece) are dog lovers extraordanaire.

Because of her dedication, I chose Priss to be my first painting of the new year.

Priss is sooo tiny  and a real heart stealer - she is a chihuahua.  

P.S., my focus will be 'pets' - but what I am really working on is 

big strokes of paint,

with minimal 'detail' strokes.

A Dog Portrait in Oil

"Carter"

8" x 8"

oil on wrapped canvas

ORIGINAL NOT FOR SALE, BUT...you can

buy prints or notecards at my Fine Art America space - HERE

This is my FB friend Lynn Krawczyk's little dog. 

 She posts so many cute photos of him, I just couldn't resist.

He reminds me of a 'bleached out' Toto - just that cute!

Lynn is a master fiber artist - you can see her blog HERE.

A Dog Portrait Finished in Oil

"Happy Dog"

9" x 12"

oil on Raymar board

SOLD

Second 'happy' animal I have painted this year.

See 'Happy Cat' back in the 30 in 30 Challenge - must be a phase.

I love this dog's personality - 

she is one 'laid back and OK with anything' pooch 

and a real pleasure to paint.

Spring happening all over the place here, 

even though it's a little on the 

cool side.  I will take it, love the 'greening' 

and the 'brooding' going on.

Doin' the Happy Dance - Cause This is NUMBER 30!!!!

"Chaco-matic"

6" x 6"

oil on Raymar canvasboard

NUMBER 30 IN 30 PAINTINGS IN 30 DAYS!!

I have painted my Weimar in this challenge - 

so it's only fair to paint my red Doxie, Chaco, by himself.

He is my little buddy, he is a lap dog 

and snuggles with us on the

bed at night, misses me when I am gone and 

can't leave me alone anytime - when

I am here.  

Whatever room I am in, he is there.  

WELL - that's the challenge!  I did it!  

I never thought I couldn't.  

But what I realize IS all this painting and feeling

more confident than ever, 

will all fritter away with the

wind, if I don't keep up my momentum.

I WILL be taking a few days off to get some beginning of the year stuff going, which I have neglected terribly.

Would I do it again?  Maybe - - if I had taken a head's-up approach.  I took it on - as just a whim, at first..serious, although a quick decision was made when I saw Leslie's blog.  I guess that is the beauty of being an artist, you can adjust to things that come your way that relate to your art.

I could see taking a 5 day week once in awhile and doing a painting every day.

It keeps you thinking quickly, moving along, without getting hung up on little stuff and looking at the overall - I caught myself saying, "What is the MOST important thing I want to work here?"

I have learned alot - mostly about color mixing and value AND finding a balance between a 'painterly' approach and a more 'classical' approach is something I will always work on.  I have seen a lot of other's great artworks,  made a few friends, received lots of nice compliments,  my blog traffic has grown, I have gained some new 'followers',  and basically come to realize what it has to be -

to get some serious artwork done - 

GO TO THE STUDIO..

GOOD DAY OR NOT.

I love my ritual.

I live 'in the zone' MORE now.

Thanks to Leslie - for providing the opportunity, 

the cheerleading,

and the challenge to paint.

I have 30 new paintings - staring at me now.

Several have sold - and I am grateful for that.

Many are listed on Etsy or Daily Paintworks if you 

are interested.  See my sidebar.

P.S. If you have been a frequent visitor, I hope to help you stay interested

in visiting in the future.  Painting is my life - and I WILL blog about it.

An Oil Portrait of a Husky

"Husky"

6" x 6"

oil on Raymar canvasboard

Snowing again - in the meantime we are hunkered back down ~ staying warm.

A Painting for Today

"Little Shu - as a kitten"

8" x 8"

pastel on Wallis sandpaper

Purchase info on ETSY.

A Painting for Today

"Chaco" - 12" x 12" oil on stretched canvas

I have finished the painting of my red dachshund, Chaco, today. I see a few spots I could rework, but I am going to move on now. I ended up really liking this one - after all. Some days (like everything you do) you do it well and some days you don't. Did I learn something on this one? You bet! There was amazing intense sunlight shining on him. I think I succeeded in showing that. Check my blog for Aug. 1 and then again on the 5th to see the progress.