I'm Still Here! In Florida, that is

Believe it or not, I'm still trying to settle into a new life here in Central Florida after two months.  I've kind of found my way around but actually am preferring to stay right on my own little piece of land and play with gardening.  And now I understand why there are so many snowbirds alighting here each winter:  This place is heavenly -- this time of year, at least!  I sat outside for hours a couple of days ago, in November!!!, without even a sweater, and watched the sun go down.  It is beautiful beyond words here, and really, the weather is perfect!  Neither too cold nor too hot.  And the colors!  You wouldn't believe the colors of the sky, the trees, the shadows - it makes me wish I were a writer so I could describe them vividly for you.  Soon, very soon, I'm going to have my schedule cleared enough that I can start doing some paintings of this region of the world.

In the meantime, though, I am overloaded with commissioned paintings that all have a looming deadline.  The painting shown here is one of two that I did for a client very recently.  This is a beautiful Rhodesian ridgeback, named Matilda.  Her adopted brother, Henry, a handsome weimaraner, will be shown in my next blog entry.

I've been thinking a lot lately and reading a lot, too.  Yes, I know I should be painting, but one has to take a break from time to time.  One of the thought-provoking things I read is a biweekly newsletter all about art and life, too, because they're closely intertwined.  It starts with an interesting, thought-provoking essay and is followed by comments from fellow artists, including examples of their work.  I look forward to it twice a week.  I may have mentioned this newsletter before, but it merits another mention if I have.  Here's the address:  http://painterskeys.com/, and it's hosted by artist Robert Genn.  To receive the newsletter, you have to actually request it at the site and confirm your request through the email you'll receive.  I very highly recommend it.

Also, artists can pay to have their artwork featured through the website, and I was just randomly looking through some of the artists' listings and came across this artist:  http://painterskeys.com/pal/christine_hanlon/ - and was just blown away by her work.  What a great inspiring artist this person is!  And I discovered this person literally by just a random click on a name.  Give her work a look if you have the time; you won't be sorry you took the time.

Okay, speaking of time, I guess I better get back to my own paintings!

A Lab Mix Custom Painting I just finished

This is a painting I just finished for a client.  Her name is Molly, and she is a beloved family member.  The green faceless frog to her right is her favorite toy - hence, the lack of facial features that she has lovingly, I'm sure, removed.  It was a really fun painting, one of those that nearly painted itself.  Just for fun, I've also attached the photo I worked from.  You can see the black lines at the bottom of the photo where I'm adding in the rest of her face just for a better composition.  Also, I changed her body entirely to make for a cuter composition and "story."  So, as you can see, I work closely, but not slavishly, with photos.  Creativity must be a strong component of artwork.  Otherwise, it wouldn't be art, would it?

I'm currently working on two more commissioned paintings for a client of her two sweeties, a weimaraner named Henry and a Rhodesian ridgeback (one of my favorite breeds as I've had two myself), named Matilda.  I'll try to include their photos and maybe some interim shots of the paintings, too, just so you (and I)can see my painting process.  (I just know there's some sort of method to my painting style if I record the process often enough!)

Regarding my recent move - obviously, off the subject of this post and even of this blog - but I just want to talk about it a little, anyway.  I'll do so in the next post.

Brown and White Shih Tzu Portrait

This is a little custom shih tzu painting I finished a few days ago.  It's already on its way to Bankok, Thailand where the real little guy lives with his mom, who was visiting in the US and asked me to paint her little pup that she missed terribly while she was here. 

At present I'm working on a couple of paintings, one for a contest winner from the June photo-submission contest (the contest is on hold for now due to my huge workload), a Nova Scotia Duck-Tolling Retriever, which should be finished in a week or so more.  I'm also doing a formal painting of a show-groomed Yorkshire terrier, which is coming along nicely.  It's due the end of this week, so I don't have time for much of anything else.  Then I have four or five, I think it is, custom paintings that have to be done one after the other just as quickly as I can do them (it takes me about a week for each painting, unfortunately). 

Starting in the next few days, I'm going to try to start listing interim photos of my paintings in progress.  I've been shy about doing that until now, but I think it will help me and perhaps others.  It'll be good for me, I think, because I can perhaps see some method to my painting madness if I see some paintings in stages of completion.  We'll see how it goes.   Actually, I think my daughter, Lara, has already posted a few progress shots of the Toller mentioned above that I'm working on as I can squeeze it in. 

You will note on the progress photos that since these paintings are for the most part custom portraits and have to be very, very precise, that I draw a grid on the photo I work from and a corresponding one on my canvas.  It really helps me keep everything exactly where it ought to be.  I highly recommend it for portrait work.  I could work without the grids, I guess, but it saves me a huge amount of time.  Okay, back to the Yorkie now.

Another Pug!!! This is Lola

This is a painting of my friend's little pug, named Lola.  I also painted another of her pugs -- whose name I can't remember right offhand! She's coming up in the next post.

The original of Lola is already sold, but prints and pendants are available.  I really enjoyed painting her - what a sweet little face.

Brindle Pug Painting

This is a sweet pug painting I recently completed from photos submitted by a customer.  She said she never sees any brindle pug artwork anywhere, and now I understand why.  It was really hard to get the brindle "feel" in the painting without trying to paint every hair -- which is what I'm trying to learn to avoid!

The original is a bit different from this 8x10" image in that it's on a 24x24" canvas.  It is for sale.  Contact me if you're interested.