The Weathermen

THIS PAINTING HAS SOLD. Prints are available on my website. Okay, I've finally reached my saturation point with dogs and took a break to paint this wonderful painting of three crows I saw at a sleepy fishing village on the Gulf Coast of Florida (sorry, I don't remember the name of the village at this moment) when I was there back in February. They were hanging out, sitting atop a sign and looked for all the world as if they were checking out the weather. So this title has a bit of a double meaning: first, the obvious one, that they're looking at the sky to predict the weather; second, refers to a political/protest song by Bob Dylan in which he says something like "only the weathermen know which way the wind blows," speaking of changing times, which we're definitely going through now, obviously. Anyway, I really, really enjoyed doing this painting, and actually, I prefer to think of it in the lighter sense, that these guys know something we don't about upcoming weather and are just hanging out on a beautiful day!

Schnauzer profile 8x10x1.5 inch Original Dog Art Painting by Dottie Dracos

I love this painting. Hey, I'm actually getting better -- I think! This painting was spontaneous, not a slavish copy of the photograph from which I painted it. I photoed the dog, whose name is Smoke, some months ago and finally got around to getting it painted. I've done a couple of paintings of Smoke before, but I think this is definitely my favorite. He's 8x10x1.5" acrylic on hardboard, $150. This painting has sold. http://www.dottiedracos.com/.

Cocker Spaniel Dog Art 8x10 Original Painting by Dottie Dracos

This painting -- finally -- is a composite of several photographs I've taken of a few cocker spaniels who come to visit me at Portland Saturday Market (I've become quite the popular one for dogs to visit. Honestly, I think they tell their parents that they want to come to visit me!) Anyway, I love this painting. My work is getting looser in one way and tighter in another. I like the direction I'm going -- for now, at least. There's one thing that bothers me a bit, though, that has nothing to do with my painting; rather, it's the base on which I'm painting, mdf wood. I love the texture of it and how transportable it is, but I have the feeling that it's sapping brightness from my paintings. Maybe it's just me and I need to work with brighter, warmer colors, but I get the feeling that I put the colors on brightly, and in an hour or two, they've lost a lot of their brilliance. The painting I'm doing today, an English bulldog portrait, I'm also using the wood, but this time I sealed it with a very fine coating of varnish between the pencil drawing and the initial color "laydown." (Is that a word????) We'll see if that makes a difference. Anyway, this painting, as usual, is for sale on my website. It's an 8x10x1.5 on wood, with painted wood sides, and it sells for $150.00. I also have clocks available, as usual.

German Shepherd Smiling Dog, Revised

This is a "redo" of a painting I did many months ago and was never really happy with. I am happy with this one, though. I won't say it's the best painting I've ever done, but I do feel that I'm learning so much more and much more quickly lately. I've finally gotten back into painting more than I was, and it's showing, I think. I can finally start to see beyond the photos I work from and put more of myself into a painting. It's a good thing. This painting is already sold.