"RastaVision" - New ACEO Art

My latest ACEO (2.5" x 3.5") is a graphite pencil drawing of a Komondor dog. This breed of dog is a sheep dog, but not in the traditional sense. Instead of herding sheep, they live amongst the flock to protect it from predators. Their dreadlocked (technically called "corded") coat of hair helps protect the dogs from the elements but it also has the added benefit of allowing them to look quite a bit like a sheep so they blend in with the flock. Komondors originated in Hungary. Click here to learn more about this interesting breed.


Click on the Komondor to see the eBay auction for this detailed miniature drawing.

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Sami Portrait

Just finished an ink on scratchboard portrait of Sami, the yellow lab.

Her owner provided a couple of photos and I chose to work with this one.



I rotated it slightly counter-clockwise to level out the angle of her head (that's why the upper left corner is missing). And then cropped it to the 6"x6" format her owner and I decided upon.



Then I converted the color photo to greyscale to give me a better reference for the tones.



Here's the only in-progress scan I made:



And the final portrait:



Notice that I darkened the really brightly sun-lit areas on Sami so they would show up against the white background. It's important when working from photos not to copy them exactly. I find that I'm always making artistic judgement calls when creating portraits. Even a realistically rendered portrait is an interpretation.

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Cheetah Art to Benefit Cheetah Conservation Fund

This is another ACEO that I've listed as part of the Art for Critters "Home for the Holidays" promotion. This graphite pencil ACEO of a cheetah's eyes & face is titled "Eyes of Africa". I will donate 20% of the final sale price to the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), There are many cheetahs in the care of CCF, but we chose "Klein" as the recipient of our CCF auction donations. Klein is looking for a sponsor as he was taken from his mother at a young age and will probably not be released back into the wild.

Click on the image to see the auction listing and read Klein's story.

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