Portrait of a girl

A number of years ago I told my youngest son that since he hadn't found himself a steady girlfriend, I found one for him and that I had painted her.  I sent him a photo of my painting.  Within a very short time and before I had a chance to introduce him to the woman I chose for him, he found Lucy.  They dated a couple of years and finally married a year ago.  I painted this portrait of her around the time of their marriage.  Can you guess which one is Lucy?

Andy and Lola

As you saw in my last post, I was commissioned to paint Andy, a Nubian goat.  Actually I was asked to paint her "grand kid" who turned out to be a goat.  What fun that was.  When doing commissions, I ask for numerous reference photos and stories about the person or animal.  This helps me get a sense of the personalities and help make them more real to me.   I discovered that Andy had a girlfriend, Lola.  As soon as I saw the photo of Andy and Lola, I knew I wanted to paint this adorable couple.

These two are among hundreds of other farm animals that have been rescued and are now living in a Farm Sanctuary on the East Coast.

I've donated this painting to that Sanctuary and wonder what Andy and Lola think of it.

Dogs, dogs, and a Goat??

There is a special joy that comes when someone asks me to paint a special person or animal for them.  Often they are pets that have now passed on.  Cameras do wonderful jobs of capturing the likeness of our pets, but paintings seem to capture the soul.  Among the dogs and cats I've painted recently, one woman asked me to paint her GrandKid!  

Watercolor or Oil? Tough Choice

I started out as a watercolor artist and a few years later I added oils.  People ask which medium I prefer and I actually have a hard time deciding which one.  Some days, I'd think it was oils because I can easily go back in and change something mid stream.  Other days it is hands down watercolors.  I love the look of watercolor and my ability to put multiple, thin layers over and over to get just the right intensity of color.  Oh wait, I can do that with oils, too.  I love how easy the clean up with watercolors is.  Just wash my brushes out with soap and water and I'm ready for the next day.  Oh wait, with oils I can wipe my brushes clean, swish them through odorless mineral spirits (Gamsol) and then dip them in a waterless hand cleaner another artist told me about and let them sit and dry until the next day.  A quick swish through my Gamsol and I'm good to go.  So, you say, the ability to make corrections is much easier with oils.  Well, yes and no.  You can make adjustments with watercolors, too, by lifting or painting over with a more opaque color.  Hmmmm, I guess it's a toss up.  I love them both and will continue to paint with both mediums.  Oh wait, what about acrylics. Yep, you guess it.  I haven't met a medium that I didn't like.

Can you tell which is painted in oil and which in watercolor?  Both are framed without glass.

Painting Dogs and Having a Ball!

Who knew that I'd enjoy painting dogs so much.  Our own dog crossed over early in 1993 and we never got another dog so getting to paint pet portraits is second to having a live dog in my studio.

In my opinion, a painting seems to bring the person or animal to life even more than a photograph does.  The paintings I've been doing lately have mostly been for people who's pet has passed on or is soon expected to so being able to do this for them really makes me feel good.

These are a few of my latest works.

Going to the Dogs!

Someone recently asked me if I ever painted dogs.  Actually I have painted a few and posted those early ones early on in my blog.  Their question got me to asking why I hadn't painted any dogs recently and I had no good answer so set out to change that.  Since I started out as a watercolor artist, I got out my watercolor palette, dusted it off (well not actually) and looked through my reference files for dog photos since our dog long since passed.  The more I painted, the more I enjoyed it.  I even threw in one painting of my grand kitten, Scooter, done with oil.   Gosh they were sure fun to do and I realized that I've always said I love to paint anything with a face and yes, dogs have faces.  Now if I could only enjoy blogging as much as I do painting, maybe I would blog more often.  One can hope.