The background for Carol & Jerry’s portrait turned out SO pretty. It looks like a watercolor wash – but I swear it’s pure oil. I selected a blue that will enhance their eye color, both of them have those beautiful blue eyes that make you want to dive in and swim away.

Katie’s background is finished – a really rich, milk chocolate brown warms up into a gorgeous finish that reminds me of soft brown leather. This will really draw attention to her face and bring out the creamy yellows in her coat.

You can view her portrait as it has progressed here.

From the top – left is Rosencrantz, right is Lionel. Bottom left is Guildenstern, right is Jean. Two male, two female – and they’re such pretty birds! I completed the backgrounds on these four lovebird portraits, and will start painting them on Monday. This warm ochre will really set off their soft green and peach tones. I did a similar color on this lovebird portrait back in 2004, that one is an oil pastel painting though, so these being oil paintings will result in much more vibrant colors.

I’ll be working in all of the backgrounds over the weekend for all of my portraits. You’ll see a lot of progress shots over the next couple of days!

I did finish up this portrait, things have just been a little crazy here for the last couple of days. Sorry I seem to have disappeared! (Didjya miss me? Please tell me you missed me. Lie if you must.)

I’ll get the portrait scanned in and show you the final (accurate color) painting in a day or two.

 

With the New Year comes new art in my studio. These are the rest of the commissioned works that I’ll be completing in oils over the next few weeks.

A. Custom portrait of two very wonderful people, this is 8×10.

B. Custom cat painting – this is Elsie. This portrait will memorialize her, as she’s recently passed over the rainbow bridge. Her mom sent me the story of her life, and by the time I was finished, I was reading through blubbers and drips. She had a beautiful life, and she’s got a wonderful mom. This is an 11×14.

C. Custom cat painting of Willie, a pretty longhaired tuxedo cat. He’s 8×8.

D-E-F & G. Custom lovebird paintings. These are 4×4 little bitty canvas panels that will get matted and framed out to a larger size to really make them a focal point. Lovebirds are gorgeous, as you know, and there are two pair in this family. I have all of their names, but they’re a bit jumbled as I’m not sure yet which name goes with which pretty bird.

H. That pretty little kitty, Cheeky, done up in a larger, 6×6 portrait.

Then there’s Katie’s portrait, and then I’ll get crackin on the Heron painting – because it won’t be long before it’s time for my first exhibition (in March) – and I’m a last minute crunch kinda gal.

Suffice it to say – my New Year’s Resolution? To Paint. A lot.What’s your biggest most important goal for the New Year?

I’ll be finishing up this little 4×6 portrait over the next day or two (we’ll see how the indigo dries tonight). Here’s what this painting looked like when I started it just before Christmas.

Wow, you guys are great! You gave me a lot of really awesome feedback, and I appreciate it! I’m going to show you another photo of Katie, then tell you the photo I’ll paint her portrait from and why I chose it.

Katie, the remote control hog  Katie is more like the remote control hog of a lab. The lovin’ whap you in the arm with that long tail yellow lab. When she looks up at her mom, she’s sweet and wants to please and play at the same time.

She’s a smiley, happy girl and the photo on the right is SO her. Now I didn’t expect you to know that just from a few photos, but I was really curious to know if you would sense her personality from the assortment I put up.

After I studied the photos again and read your comments, I got to work this morning on her sketch.

Now – to choose the hue for the background! (Anyone want to pick a nice shade from another painting in my gallery?)

I painted for 10 solid hours yesterday to complete this gorgeous car in time for my client for Christmas. I’ll have to overnight it, but that’s ok – I am SO excited to show you the final scan of this painting once it’s dry. You can see this painting as it has progressed here. This is my first “official” custom car painting. I’ve done sketches of cars and a colored pencil drawing back in high school – but this rocks. It’s entirely different from pet portraits, obviously – the line work and edges are not so forgiving. I love a challenge though – and I love a good artistic stretch. This was definitely it! This painting has to be seen in person to really appreciate – because the reds overwhelm the lens of my digital camera. It’s a rich, beautiful red with cherry red lightening it up. It’s glossy without being pink – the treads on the tires are deep and show slight wear – the chrome is gleaming. The background color (payne’s gray) is not blue, really, and it looks like she’s sitting on a showroom floor. I’ll scan this piece and share the final detail shots in a couple of days.

I worked on this little 4″ x 6″ Father & Daughter portrait yesterday since I was waiting for paint to dry to get that Sweet Ride finished up (which will happen today). The green is not really grass green, it’s more a drab olive into a nice warm gold. So if you don’t mind, pretend I did an accurate color correction, or just gasp in awe or something dramatic when you do see the true color.