Assorted Pet Portraits

Catching up and sharing a number of pet portraits I've completed over the last few months:

Sirus the Great Dane. 5" x 7", ink on Ampersand Claybord (white scratchboard), with watercolor for his eye. Adopted from the Placer SPCA.


Sadie the Cocker Spaniel/Pomeranian mix. 4.75" x 5.5", mixed media on Ampersand Aquabord (ink, watercolor and color pencil)


Divot the Jack Russell Terrier. 2.5" x 3.5", miniature pencil drawing (aka an ACEO)


Kili Man Jaro the Savannah Cat. 5" x 7", ink on Ampersand Claybord (white scratchboard). Click here to find out more about this drawing.


The last three portraits are each 5" x 5", mixed media on watercolor Art Board (ink, watercolor and color pencil) and were created for the same client.

Brutus the Mastiff


Jinx the Doberman Pinscher


Eazy the Malinois

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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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Very Big and Very Small

Two new dog portraits at opposite ends of the size spectrum: a great dane and a toy poodle. I'm referring to the dogs' sizes, not the portraits' sizes.


"Eamonn" - 7" x 8", mixed media (ink, watercolor and color pencil) on Ampersand Claybord

Click here to see the video of the steps in creating this portrait. It explains the process and how I work with the different mediums to create a full color portrait like this one. I haven't done very many of these portraits on the Aquabord, but it's a great surface when a client wants a full color, realistic portrait (as opposed to a full color "Petzazz" style portrait like the one below). The surface is textured (it was formerly called Claybord textured) and can be scratched to add detail.


Reference photo provided by Eamonn's owner

Next is the painting I did of Missi, who was the mascot at Dancing Dog Productions in Auburn, CA. I first met the owners of Dancing Dog when I showed my art there during an Art Walk many years ago. They're wonderful animal-loving people and we've become friends. When I first met them, they had Sipsy, a poodle mix. After Sipsy passed, they acquired Missi, a toy poodle. Sadly, Missi has passed on also. She was a funny little dog, and the photo I used for reference was one I took during an Art Walk. A friend and I were getting her to beg for food which is the reason her ears are "flying" back. That goofy look led us to call her the Flying Nun (those of us of a certain age remember the TV show starring Sally Field).


"The Flying Nun" - 4" x 5", watercolor on Yupo


My photo of Missi

I know the color is pretty wild, but I really wanted something vibrant to capture Missi's fun spirit. I used red, orange and yellow for her hair and then a smattering of blue color pencil on top of that to help bring in some depth.

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Art for the Moon Bears - Now Available

NOTE - added 6/11/09 - The Rosie and Lia originals have sold.

These two ACEO drawings of Moon Bears are now available at auction on Art By Us. The auctions run through May 27th (ending at 7pm CST) - click on either image to see the auction listing. I'll donate 50% of the proceeds to Animals Asia Foundation (AAF).


"Rosie", 2.5" x 3.5" mixed media drawing


"Lia", 3.5" x 2.5" scratchboard & watercolor drawing

As I've written in previous posts, I joined the Ursa Freedom Project group to help raise funds for AAF's Moon Bear rescue efforts. All along, I'd planned to create some art of Moon Bears to sell on-line. In addition to these two drawings, I have a pencil drawing nearly finished and I may do a small square painting. I also have note cards and 2 sizes of reproduction print of the Rosie image on Bonanzle.


UFP's purpose is to raise awareness and funds for the bears rescued from bile farms in China & Vietnam. UFP is working directly with AAF to support their efforts to rescue and provide sanctuary for these charismatic bears. Click here for the Press Release from UFP.





If you're not interested in the art, but would still like to help the bears, you can make a donation via PayPal.

Thank you!

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