Checkers the Rooster!

This is one of my daughter's chickens, an adorable rooster that my granddaughter named "Checkers" for some unknown reason.  But Checkers it is!  I spent around an hour with him last week, taking photos and making sketches, and here's the painting that resulted from our little visit.  It's an acrylic painting on a stretched 16x20x3/4" canvas and is for sale on Etsy, along with prints of the painting.

I just love how feisty he is, and I think I may have to do at least one more painting of him.

I also redid the sunflower painting again, and I really like it better now.   It's much happier looking!

A couple more recent paintings I've done: A small rooster portrait and a fun sunflowers painting

 This little rooster painting is on an 8x10" canvas board and is one of several rooster paintings I'm doing at this time (the others are larger).  As usual, I'm selling both the original and prints of it.

This painting I did for myself because I love growing sunflowers -- and seeing them so much.  I become happier just looking at them, whether they're in my garden or on a wall in my house.  This one is currently hanging on my own kitchen wall.  However, if someone really wants the painting and buys it, I can, of course, do another sunflower painting for myself  : ) .  The original acrylic painting is a 24x36x1.5"  stretched canvas.  Prints are available as well.

Rooster Painting! Something Bright and Fun!

This is a really fun rooster painting I just finished today.  He's going to grace my own kitchen until he sells because I love him.  He makes me smile; he'll definitely wake me up in the morning even before I've had my first cup of coffee; and he was a lot of fun to paint! 

The original painting is on 16x20x3/4" stretched canvas, with the sides painted the same color as the background.  The background shows up in the photo as a  bit blue, but it's more of a greenish grey actually.  I'm selling both prints and the original.

Now I absolutely have to start on my next custom painting, which as I think I've already mentioned, is another beautiful cat.

Getting Back in Stride

Unlike I'm sure many artists, I need to paint every single day to be able to keep my confidence and abilities up to par.  From around the end of October until now, I have not been able to be in my studio enough - and my confidence level has plummeted.   I love my career more than anything else I've ever done -- or ever will do -- in my life.  I live to paint and to learn all I can about painting.  

But as much as I love to paint, there's one thing that overrides even it, and that is my family  - including extended family and even some friends -- and of course my four-legged family members, too.  So that's why I was away from painting these past couple of months.  But now it's time for me to get back to it.  

I started about a week and a half ago with a rooster painting, a bit stylized compared to my usual style, but it was enjoyable, and if felt good to have the brushes wet again.  I've finished it, and now I'm painting a German shorthaired pointer portrait.  I'm fairly happy with the painting so far, but I'm having a bit of trouble with getting just the right color.  Unfortunately, I read the AKC requirements for a GSP's color, which they descibe as pure "liver," not red, not orange, not tan, but "liver."  Well, I'm really struggling to be sure it's exactly the right color in my painting, but with a bit of time I'm sure I'll get it right.