This is Honey, she’s a Yorkie. In case you’re wondering why the background isn’t already painted, it’s because she’ll be painted in india inks and those are applied in layers all in the same session. So I’ll actually be erasing as much of this sketch as possible, leaving just a very faint line to work from.

I did also paint on Rocky & Simba’s portraits today, but I want to get a little further along before I post another progress pic. I will probably do that later tonight or tomorrow! UPDATE: this is my favorite part, seeing the eyes come alive on the painting! They’re not done yet, but I just love this part so I had to share. 😀

Back to the easel I go!
xoxoxo

Progress on Dom: He’s sketched onto the canvas now and I’ll start painting him either this afternoon or tomorrow morning! Isn’t he a stud??? (Yes this is the pet portrait contest winner!) UPDATE ON DOM 5:42PM CST: Dom has been blocked in with base colors now, he’ll dry for a day or two and then I can move on to the next layer. 🙂

Cat portrait progress: still sketched, I think I’m going to go ahead and work on them in a little bit.

Toronto frog progress: sent the downpayment for the frog fabrication today, they will probably start fabricating on Wednesday or Thursday of this week and it should arrive end of next week! 😀

I spent the morning cleaning up and doing some paperwork, sent Squirrely III off to his new home, ordered contacts, all kinds of fun stuff! The girls have been playing and making tissue paper flowers all afternoon, I’ll have to put them in a vase and get pics for you guys!

Happy Monday everyone!
xoxo

I’ve also started my pet portrait contest winner’s portrait today! This is a gorgeous setting for a purebred Smooth Fox Terrier. He’s mostly white, but has some beautiful rich browns on his head and a couple of other areas. I used a transparent gold ochre for the background, layering some areas a bit heavier than others for this rich finish. I was actually going for something else when this started yelling “Yea! Perfect!” as I was painting. Yes, Winsor & Newton Pro Oil’s do speak if you listen closely. 😉

Had enough of me today yet? I’ll give you a few hours to catch up while we run errands. hehe!

Here are the two cat portraits I’m working on now. I hope to have these finished by Monday! The kitty on the left is Rocky, and Simba is on the right. I’ve got them sketched out with an angled ground which will probably be woodgrain.

In other news, I got some better pics of the Stargazer this morning and will prepare that auction and start it tonight. I’ll put a linkie up to the auction when it’s ready!

Have a great Saturday everyone!
xoxoxo

oh, yea, PS!
I just calculated INCHES on my weight loss. Those commercials are misleading to me when they say “so and so lost xx inches!” ok so now I know they’re adding up the total. hehe! So far I’ve lost a total of 23 inches. 5-Bust, 8-Waist, 6-Hips and 2-Each Thigh. 😀

Here’s a WIP shot of what I’m working on. 🙂
Clickie to see what I’m painting!

There’s one of the two canvases that are JUST about dry enough for me to start two cat commissions! Both canvases look the same at this point, tomorrow I will begin painting the kitties!

For today, I have had 2 canvases prepped for a couple of weeks and it’s raining out, so I’m going to paint something else while I’m waiting for the other two to finish drying. 🙂 I am waiting for two packages with more pics, I will be painting a Smooth Fox Terrier (pet portrait contest winner), and another commission (a Yorkie!) in inks.

Yardwork update: the pool is up! See? I dug up the yard under the pool, threw down 16 bags of sand, then dug up a smidge more to add 5 more 18″ square patio blocks, then 8 more bags of sand to have a little mini “beachfront” so we don’t get dirt & grass in the pool.

The roses are doing really well, all 5 plants have new growth. I’ve clipped the blooms, brought them inside and have a very pretty Bouquet sitting on my desk now smelling all nice!

Then I have the front flower planter thing all full now and it looks LOVELY! Here’s an updated pic (I’m taking this out in the rain now..LOL), you can see I’ve added quite a few more things and it’s really taking off and is quite colorful! See the flowerbed here!

Ok now I should be tired from all of this, right? No. LOL

Lastnight I shampooed the carpets and cleaned the floors until midnight with this new cleaner. This stuff is AMAZING! Here’s a link if you want to buy some: Super Duper Cleaner! Not kidding, this door to door salesman hit our house the other night. He came in, showed me how well it worked cleaning up stains in the carpet that have been there for YEARS, and of course I was skeptical. I always am! I really dislike door-to-door salespeople. Ug don’t invade my home!! Anyway I told him that if he could clean anything up in my studio that had dried oil paints on it then I’d buy a bottle. Welp, I had splattered some on my curtains and he cleaned it right up! So I bought some. After my painting session the other night I had splattered it all over my clothes, I was a mess. So I used the stuff, cleaned it right out of my clothes! Lastnight I decided to put it into my Kirby shampooer and WOW the carpet is CLEAN!!! Very very cool stuff. Highly recommend it!!

What else… oh yes, weight loss! Well, I have been holding steady at a loss of 37 pounds. Only thing is, I’m losing INCHES now and gaining muscle mass from all this outdoorsy hard manual labor stuff I’ve been doing! So, as of yesterday, I’ve gone down 4 sizes (and I’m counting by two’s since that’s how our stuff is sized), and am wearing clothes from like 7 years ago! YAHOO!

Alrightie then, I think I’ve rambled on enough to get you all caught up, now I need to get ready to paint! Show ya later! 😉

xoxoxoxo

Squirrely the Third! This is just a work in progress now, he will very realistically be begging for corn by the end of the day today! (So if you want to snag him up before he’s finished or list him on ebay, drop me an e-mail! He’s 8×10 in ink!)

We’ve had such funky weather here the last few days, another thunderstorm is supposed to hit tonight. All I want is SUMMER! LOL And I want the mud in the yard to dry out so I can get this landscaping done, too! 😛

I’m going to try to finish up this fella tonight, and tomorrow get that Stargazer going, and then I’ve gotta work on some commissions. I’ll check in with my client and if it’s ok with her I’ll post those WIP shots too.

Feels GOOD TO PAINT!!!!!!

xoxoxo

I painted today!

Show ya tomorrow. 😉

xoxoxo

Hi everybody!

It’s Monday! AAK! 😉

So far so good today. I prepared several prints for shipping this morning and got those out, walked over 2.5 miles on the treadmill (by the way I’m down 29 lbs. now and have ONE to go to meet my goal for this month!), did the banking, put paperwork together for re-mortgaging (how fun?!), and I am getting ready to paint! YES! Paint!

I will be working on a small 6×6 Orange Poppy today in india ink. I need to clean off my easel/table and set up my supplies, and with inks drying so fast, I may be able to finish it yet tonight and list it on eBay. I realize that I have been working in oils so much, and those are so much more time consuming and costly for my buyers, I am depriving some of my most wonderful clients of great original art for their homes! I’m going to be working on a very cool Horse portrait too some time this week. 🙂

My yard is covered in creeping charlie, ug! My father-in-law gave me a great recipe to get rid of it before my grass is completely choked out. Mix 10-1/2 oz. of Borax with 2 gallons of warm water, and lightly saturate the area with a watering can. So that’s on my schedule for today too! I keep putting it off though, since our backyard is so big I will probably need to refill in the house about 40 times to cover it all. Over 90% of our yard is creeping charlie now. (Maybe the girls will be nagging ME for coming in and out and in and out and in and out of the house! LOL)

All is well, a lovely start to a week that looks like it might warm up pretty nicely!

Have a great one!
xoxo
me & charlie