"Abby" pet portrait commission

This is the last commissioned painting due before Christmas and I delivered it today. What a cute puppy Abby was. I think this pose captures her perfectly! The client brought her to my house for me to photograph and she was so excited that we barely got her to sit still for anything. I think I will go to the clients house next time where the dog (or child) is in their own familiar surroundings. Live and learn, huh?

Now I can focus on Christmas for my family. Wish I felt better though. Woke up sneezing and now have a head cold that's making me just want to crawl back into bed. But I have art prints to ship and cleaning to do so no nap today. Merry Christmas to everyone!

"Sarah"

I've always wanted to paint red hair and I finally got my chance. This little girl has the most beautiful hair color. In my resource photo, she had braces and they were showing. I made the decision not to paint them but I'm wondering if that was a good decision because the braces have a lot to do with the way the mouth is shaped. Does that make sense without the braces showing? I don't know yet. I would love to hear feedback about this.

"Emmi and Zanna"

This painting was done for the "Life's Little Paws" cocker spaniel rescue auction in Maine. Participants bid on the opportunity to have me paint their pet. The winner paid to have her other dog added and I was glad to do so.

The apple painting I finished a few weeks ago. It is in the style of my teacher and friend Timothy Tyler. I had seen a painting of his that had the very dark red background with the red apples and I loved it. I wanted to try something similar myself.

Etsy

My Etsy shop is fineartgallery. Take a look! I'm offering Free Shipping from now through Christmas within the United States.

"NWA Boutique Show"

This weekend I had the opportunity to participate in the "NWA Boutique Show" held in Springdale AR. It was a fun experience and I definitely learned a lot about what to do and what not to do next time. This particular show is designed to attract young mother's with small children so next time I will focus on bringing more examples of children's portraiture. That is what most people were interested in and what I found myself talking about most.

"Sassy"

What a sleepy, rainy day this is. I just finished my first big show yesterday. It was the "NWA Boutique Show" in which I was the only fine artist participating. I have to say that it was a great experience and will make money for me in time. I got two commissioned jobs for sure yesterday plus many "I will definitely be calling you" remarks. If I do this same show in the spring I will definitely be bringing more examples of children's portraits and pet portraits as the clientelle of this event is primarily young women with small children.

The painting I'm posting today is called "Sassy" and it is a commission that I just finished. I will be delivering it next week to the client who is presenting it to his mother for her birthday. I think she will be happy.

Lemons and Red Plate

I struggled with this painting. I'm not sure what it was exactly that made it so frustrating but for one thing getting the color of the lemons just right was very difficult. I'm still not sure I captured the color exactly. From past experience, I made myself push through and finish even though I wasn't happy with it during the process and I'm glad I did. It's much better in person. I will re-photograph it after it's varnished and hopefully get a better image.

"Sunflowers"

This is a painting I started a few weeks ago and I didn't like it/wasn't having fun with it so it sat in my studio screaming "failure" at me every time I looked at it. Since I'm participating in that show in Nov. I need all the paintings I can come up with so I decided I needed to finish this one today. I dreaded it but pushed through. So guess what, I love it now! I'm so glad I made myself complete it. The colors are brighter and more vibrant in person. I wonder if I will ever figure out how to photograph my artwork and use photoshop.

"Lime Wedges" 30"x40" oil

I just finished this today. It will go to the same client who bought the lemons. I thouroughly enjoyed painting them. Actually, I've enjoyed painting anything on a very large scale these days.

Wine tasting/art show

Last night I had the priviledge to set up some of my artwork at Ella's restaurant in the historic Carnall Hall here in Fayetteville. You can read about it here http://ellasrestaurant.com/ The third monday of every month they hold a wine tasting club and they feature a different artist. I was the artist last night. I made some great contacts and also learned a lot about Spanish wines in the process.

Golden Delicious

This is a 5"x7" oil on canvas. I will be showing my art at a boutique show in November and I want to have many small paintings for those who don't want to spend a lot. The funny thing is, it took me as long or maybe longer to do this painting than it does to paint one twice it's size. I haven't figured that one out yet.

Pumpkin Trio

On my latest trip to the grocery store to pick up subjects to paint, I found a huge box full of these little pumpkins just as you walk into the front door. I couldn't wait to get home and get started. Here in Fayetteville, it's started to feel like fall a little earlier than usual so it seemed fitting to paint these and they were so much fun I think I'll paint something else with pumpkins.

Lemon Slices

This is a large commissioned painting for a client and, now, friend who I've been painting for for many years. The size is 30"x40".

Barns and Pears

It's been so long since I've posted anything. Wow! School's out and I'm busier than ever with kids going every which way and me trying to paint in between. I have had several commissioned jobs and for that I'm very thankful. I've actually been busier the past few months than I've ever been. I hope that means I'll be even busier once the economy improves. For now I have two paintings to post. One is a 24"x30" commission of a barn. The client grew up with this barn and now it will be torn down. He wanted a painting to remember it by. This one was very difficult because the photo the client gave me wasn't a good reference photo. I decided to make the trip out to the barn about an hour away and take my own photos. I got several good ones but we had just had a terrible ice storm that took down many of the trees. I had to use my imagination for a lot of this painting which I never like to do. The other painting that I'm posting is just a still life of a pear. I love the simplicity. I want to do a very large painting of this soon.

Iris

I have been wanting to paint a flower really badly since the spring flowers have started popping up. These irises are so beautiful growing in my yard so I decided to pick one and bring it into my studio to paint. After about an hour I wished I hadn't. That color was so hard to duplicate and I decided that I just wouldn't be able to with the tube colors I had that day. I tried and tried and this was the closest I came. I also think that my light source was not strong enough to make it an interesting enough painting. We live and learn:)

"Afternoon Coffee"

I'm so excited to post a finished painting. I've got so many projects going but haven't had anything finished until now. I set this up yesterday and finished it this morning. It was a lot of fun. Tomorrow it's back to my other projects.

Tennis anyone?

I don't have a painting to post today. I'm working on a commissioned painting of a barn right now. I donated the apple painting from the last post to a benefit auction to raise money for a child in our town who is very sick.

I don't know if I've mentioned before that I also play tennis. I started playing about 3 yrs ago and fell in love immediately. I try to play twice a week or more. As an artist, I find myself getting more and more comfortable being alone which isn't good all the time. Tennis has allowed me to meet people and make really good friendships. This year I decided to join USTA Team Tennis to see if I would like the more competitive play. I've never been a very competitive person so this has been a huge challenge for me. My nerves almost get the better of me before each match. The worst thing is I have not won ANYTHING yet. This is starting to really get in my head and I'm afraid it's now keeping me from winning. I'm trying to remember that it's just a game, I'm not getting paid to do this. I'll keep you posted on my progress and you can be sure I'll let you know the minute I win:) I'm wearing the green shirt in the picture above.

Apple Trio

Today I was determined to start and finish a painting. I knew I better not put too much thinking into or it would never get done. That's how I usually roll. I think more than I do. It still took me until noon to get situated and start painting. Not sure how I will get over all the fussing I do to prepare. Anyway, I used only brights for brushes because I've always liked the look of paintings done in that style. It's hard to leave it alone and not work it to death. I also used Cobalt dryer to speed the drying time and apparently used too much because the paint started drying too quickly. It became so sticky that I had to finish sooner than I probably would have otherwise. Good and bad. I was told after it was all said and done that I should only use the dryer in my white and cadmiums. I'm excited to one tomorrow if I have time. I play in a tennis tournament tomorrow afternoon.

Wino Wednesdays

What a great day today was. I spent it with my friends and fellow artists Tim Tyler and Vicki Ross. I've studied with Tim for about three years and have learned so much from him. He's a great teacher but now a great friend. We meet at Tim's about 9:00 am every Wednesday, paint, talk and listen to great music. We go to lunch, have a couple glasses of wine and then it's back to painting. Today I finished the dog that I've been working on for a while. This dog belongs to the same client who owns Bailey from a previous post. I believe this one's name is Scarlett. I'm excited to let the client know that I'm finished. I have one more dog of hers to paint. Today I also worked on a still life that Tim set up for me of a vase with a beautiful leather mask hanging from it. Can't wait to get back to that next wednesday.

"Mallory"

This painting was HARD! It probably took a total of 10 hrs which is longer than it should have. I only had one photo to work from and the dog was wet. I will never do that again. I am trying to build a larger portfolio of pet portraits. My interest in pet portraits has increased since the passing of my birth mother, Peggy Bang. She was quite famous for her depiction of the Cocker Spaniel and her work can been seen at peggybang.com

Mexican Pottery

Today's painting is a still life with some Mexican pottery my birth mother gave me after one of her trips to San Miguel. She was an artist as well and loved the Mexican people. She would take many trips there to get inspiration for her art. I met her for the first time 10 years ago and she passed away in March of '08. I wanted to include something of her's in a still life and I have to say that pottery was fun to paint. I'm not sure I love the rest of the set up but I plan to use the pottery again in other still life settings. I am still experimenting with thick paint and big brushstrokes. It's the very opposite of how I am used to painting but Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". I don't want to go insane so I'm trying something different no matter how painful.