I had quite the giddy little girl surprise yesterday when I opened my mailbox - I received the July issue of DogWorld Magazine. I wasn’t expecting this issue until - well, July. So I was pretty surprised to see it and cannot TELL you how quickly I opened up to the inside cover contents:

Now, this is where the squealing like a little girl part came in. Those of you who know my work know exactly why already, those of you who don’t? Click here, then come back and have another look. If any of you would like to reminisce, you could go back to my blog archives and have a walk down memory lane, and see how Katie’s portrait came to life in my studio.

When I was asked to display artwork in DogWorld Magazine, I was absolutely ecstatic. I had to submit work for consideration, first, and then the editorial team would approve the final artwork selected for this issue. Katie was an obvious choice, she’s a gorgeous purebred Lab. I quickly provided everything they requested and it wasn’t long before her portrait was issued their stamp of approval. So much so, in fact, that they gave her a full page:

From start to finish, Katie’s portrait is “all me”. What’s different about this piece from my other portraits is that I also did the photo shoot with Katie. I selected this composition from my own photography - so it is exactly how I envisioned her from start to finish. Getting down on the floor with her and hanging out with her, seeing how she behaved around her mom, this conveys her spirit in a portrait perfect way, from first hand knowledge and experience.

The greatest part about this opportunity is that it is who it is. Dog lovers, those who have those special connections with their dogs, trainers, aficionados - these are the eyes that will pick up this magazine and see this portrait, so this is such an insane honor. Really. I can’t even wrap my brain around how flattered and overwhelming it is.

Other artists work included in the “Gallery of Dogs” spread include Michael Pfleghaar, Louise Peterson, Nicholas Moss, Paul Boddum, Marjorie Pesek, Lori Alexander and Hilda Spain-Owen.

If you’re in the pet store or Borders or wherever there’s a great big magazine rack - pick up the July (2008) issue of Dog World.

Keep reading to view a few close up scans of the painting!

I have tossed around the idea of painting on webcam again, especially since I’m working on so many portraits at the moment. I’ll definitely let you know if I decide to do that and give you a link so you can pop in and watch me painting live in my studio.

Yesterday I decided to just snap photos of Claire’s portrait as I progressed and show you all of the stages I go through during a drawing session. If you’re looking for a tutorial on how to draw a portrait, I’m not sure that I am a very good teacher - but if you pick up more on visual cues, you’ll be good to go.

My supplies are very simple - an Ebony extra smooth drawing pencil, a set of Kimberly drawing pencils (a nice variety of hard and soft leads for shading and defined lines), a white block eraser, a kneaded eraser, sharpener, acid free archival drawing paper and a sock, so you don’t get yourself too messy during the process.

I started out measuring and marking the size, 4″ x 6″ on my pad, and worked in the line drawing:

I’ve added a detail shot of Emily’s face below, so keep on reading. For anyone interested in having your own custom portrait done, you can view my custom portrait packages here in my shop. You can quick-order by selecting a size and checking out through Paypal right here.

I’ve added a few zoomed-in detail shots of the completed portrait below, so keep on reading. Also, a few of you have contacted me about having your own custom portrait done, and I’ve made up some custom portrait packages in my shop to make the ordering process easier. You can have a look at the available sizes here. :woof:

A long wait in the hospital waiting room, a box of pencils and a hand held sharpener. I worked Moggie’s second pencil portrait, a 6″ x 6″ piece to compliment her first portrait - which I finalized as well, adding whiskers and her name to her tag.

I’ll add a new scan of her first portrait behind the cut if you’d like to see that one in it’s finished state.

I’m offering these graphite portraits at $2 per square inch, which is a really nice price for an original piece of artwork. If you’re interested in having a graphite/pencil piece done, please get in touch with me through my “contact” form (linked in the top menu).

I wanted to show you this last week, but I couldn’t. I wanted to have a chance for Laura to receive her copy before I showed anyone. Now that she has hers, I can show you mine.

This, my original painting from Laura’s photo, is one of my favorite paintings. Within just a few weeks of completing this piece and making it available, the original painting was marked sold and I wondered if I would ever be able to have a copy of it even for myself.

At 18″ x 36″, the painting is massive and took nearly 10 scans at 300dpi, painstakingly pieced together over hours of waiting and praying that my virtual memory wouldn’t crash my system. My critical eye saw areas that needed smoothing, better blending, balance, and when something didn’t match up quite right, I scanned that area again.

It took me several hours, and several Tylenol. The end result is a file. One single huge 90MB file records every little brushstroke that I invested in this Heron.

Finally, I was able to have it put it to print. On canvas, even. Gallery wrapped canvas. It’s not quite the original size, at 15″ x 30″ it’s a few inches smaller than the original painting - but it’s wonderful, and I’m so pleased with how it turned out. It’s not as crystal clear as my painting (of course I’m very critical, it is my work I’m looking at), but it is good. It’s better than any of those other joe-shmoe prints at Target, the quality and durability FAR surpasses any of those.

Of course I had to have one for myself, and it is only right that since Laura permitted me to use her amazing photograph as reference material, she get a print as well.

Now he’s a focal point, of course, right beside the piano, you see him when you walk from the kitchen into the living room and family room. When I pull Chickeymonkey’s hair back in the morning she has two places to turn her head toward while I do her hair. First her eyes are on Jesus (a framed print), and then she turns to the Heron.

“Look at the Heron”, I tell her. And we both do. He rocks.

(I have not decided yet whether this print will be made available to the public.)

    

Annie, Momo & Callie Custom Portrait Set
4″ x 4″ Oil Painting
3/4″ Traditional Profile Wrapped Canvas
© 2007 Leanne Wildermuth
All Rights Reserved

Here are Annie, Momo & Callie’s final portrait painting images - you can click them for a larger (actual size, or very close) view in my portfolio. Of course you are welcome to leave feedback about their portraits in my portfolio as well! These three little 4″ x 4″ custom paintings are already on their way home and all their Mama needs is three nails and a hammer, as they’re ready to put right up on the wall.

If you’re considering getting your own portrait (Christmas is coming - I saw geese flying South this morning!), you can find sizes and pricing both in my shop and on my order form.

  

  

  

  

  

I had the most fun opportunity to illustrate a children’s book for a college student - without giving everything away, I’m sure my illustrations are a big hint to the storyline!

I started doodling late one night, refined my doodles into line drawings, then colored them in using colored pencil on a really smooth illustration paper - scanned them in and further enhanced them for print using Paint Shop Pro. I’m so tickled with the results, I just had to share.

Which little fishy is your favorite?