Catching Up . . .

Before I go further, I'd like to wish my readers a Happy New Year and extend my gratitude for your support. I wish you all the best for 2012 and hope that the new year brings you peace, happiness and prosperity.

And now down to business . . . I'll admit I'm not updating my blog as often as I'd like, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I'll catch up with today's post - featuring a number of portraits I've finished in the last month or two.

Some of them had to remain secret because they were Christmas gifts. The odds of the recipients seeing this blog are pretty slim, but it's a karma thing - I don't like to reveal a portrait to the public until the gift has been given or the client has approved the final.


Morgan - Golden Retriever, 8" x 9", ink and ink wash on scratchboard
When I first went out to take photos of puppy Morgan, he had been playing in the kiddie pool in the backyard. I took photos of wet puppy Morgan and then his mom and I decided when he matured I'd take more photos. The result is this two-part portrait.


Cohan - Maine Coon, 6" x 7", watercolor on Yupo


Cohan - Version 2, mixed media on Aquabord (ink, watercolor, color pencil)
My client wanted a Petzazz style portrait of Cohan, but her husband preferred my more realistic style, so I did both! I scanned in-progress stages of the realistic portrait; one of these days, I'll make a WIP (work in progress) video of it.


Brutus - English Mastiff, 7.5" x 5", watercolor on Yupo (with some color pencil)
This was a long-distance commission. My client is in New Jersey and this was a Christmas present for her husband. She provided a wonderful reference photo and we communicated via e-mail and one phone call.


Roxie - Tortoiseshell, 2.5" x 3.5", pencil/color pencil


Mouse - Tabby, 2.5" x 3.5", pencil w/color pencil eye & nose
Sadly, Mouse had already passed and the portrait was a Christmas gift for her owner. My client had a limited selection of photos for me to use as reference, but I was able to make it work with one of the photos. There's more detail in the white area of her fur, but my scanner just didn't pick up those light pencil marks.

The portraits of Roxie and Mouse are ACEOs - small format art that always measures 2.5" x 3.5". See more ACEO portraits here.

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And Now, Back to the Art

Now that I'm home from Texas, I'm finishing up some new art for the Auburn Old Town Gallery. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm one of the featured artists for May and have been working on a number of new critter paintings on the Art Boards surface.

These are two that I had finished before we left, but hadn't had time to scan. They're both done in ink, watercolor & color pencil. The rabbit doesn't have much ink-work - just the eyes.


"Purple Pug", 4" x 4", Mixed Media on Art Board. Find "Purple Pug" items in my Zazzle Shop.


"Mr. Personality", 4" x 4", Mixed Media on Art Board

I always have a heck of a time capturing all the detail on paintings with large areas of white. The whites get "blown out" and lose some of the detail. I have a good scanner too, but there's only so much it can capture. And there's only so much time I want to spend fighting with the resulting image - on this one, I darkened the white areas just a touch so they wouldn't be so glaring, but beyond that, sometimes I have to throw in the towel and say, "the original is much better than the scan". Fortunately, I don't have to resort to that too often!

Here are the reference photos:


I must mention that "Mr. Personality" is Snoopy, a rex rabbit, and he belongs to Dianne Van de Carr, a friend and fellow Old Town Gallery member. Snoopy is quite the character and this is my third artful rendition of him.

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New Llama Art

A brief post for today. I've just listed this ACEO of a llama on eBay.


Llama
original drawing in ink & color pencil
2.5" x 3.5"

Click the image for the eBay listing. The llama didn't sell on eBay, so it's now in my Etsy shop. Click on the image for the listing.

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New Art: Muggs the Pug . . . and a Goat

My latest ACEO (2.5" x 3.5" small format drawing) is a pencil drawing of Muggs the pug. Now, don't get me wrong, I like pugs, they're funny dogs with lots of character and they love their people . . . but really . . . I have to say they are not the most attractive dogs. And dear Muggs, well, let's just say she had a face only a mother could love. Muggs passed away a while ago, but I was able to meet her and take some photos a few months before she passed. She was a very sweet dog who belonged to friends of my Dad. They have been so good to him, I wanted to give them a gift of a portrait of Muggs.


My photo of Muggs


The same photo cropped to ACEO format

Another new drawing is this small ink on scratchboard pygmy goat. It's only 2.5" x 2.5" - mainly because a 4" x 4" piece of Claybord I had was defective on two of its sides. I didn't want to throw it out, so I just used the center.



I'll have the framed drawing with me on Thursday night (June 11, 6 - 9 pm) at the Auburn Art Walk. If it doesn't sell that night, I'll hang it at the Auburn Old Town Gallery. For the Art Walk, I've put together a show of works from students that have taken my ink on scratchboard classes. I'll also have my drawing of a pinto filly in the scratchboard show. The show runs for two months - until the next Art Walk in October. The scratchboard work will be at Dancing Dog Productions, 1101 High Street. Other locations in Old Town and Downtown Auburn (CA) will feature art by other local/regional artists.


Click here to see my previous blog post about this drawing.

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