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I’ve completed my final portrait of 2010 – this is Takoda, a lovely white German Shepherd in a nice white mat & black frame. The size of this graphite drawing is 5×7.
It has been another wonderful and creative year for me and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you checking in on me this year! I wish you all good things for 2011.
Happy New Year!!
xox
Leanne
This update is long, long overdue!
I’ve spent the last couple of days inserting all of my projects to date into my portfolio. I can’t believe 2010 is almost over!
I’ve added over 20 things to draw to my portfolio, so if you see yours here, please pop right on over to your project and leave a comment. It is so helpful to have feedback on my projects so new and old clients alike have a good feeling for the quality of my work as well as my trustworthiness and reliability!
I’ve even been able to add a few photos of framed pieces (Moggie, Lilly and Joey’s portraits) which is really neat! I love having photos from clients to share!
I’d also like to thank each and every one of my clients who entrusted me with their projects. It’s incredible to me to look back over the work I’ve done just this year and see such a variety, which means that many people put a lot of faith in me to be creative in whatever medium their project requires. That is a very cool thing, and I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to create in such a variety of ways. I never get tired of it – and don’t think I’ll ever narrow down to just one “thing”, even though I have contemplated just that on numerous occasions as many people recommend a specialty – I just can’t do it!
Thanks again to all of you for your continued support on my artistic journey. Love and hugs to you all!
I completed this portrait of Lilly back in September, but as you can see I’ve been entirely lax in updating my blog and portfolio! My client asked for framing on this piece as well since I was to ship it wrapped as a gift to its recipient. I am so pleased with how the contemporary mat and frame sets off this sweet (5″ x 5″) portrait, it was just perfect. Especially on my recently re-painted walls!
At the moment, I am booked and busy with several projects and life in general has kept me more than hustling and distracted. I have committed myself to getting my site updated so please stay tuned as more updates are coming!

Update 9/22: Revised & replaced Salem’s portrait with the updated scan
I’ve just completed another piece of artwork, this is Salem’s Shadow. I’ve done his portrait in graphite on an 8×10 size sheet (I use Canson acid-free drawing papers) using the very same brand of pencils that I used in my high school art class. (I’m a creature of habit, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!)
Salem is a black cat, and I’ve drawn him lying on a really pretty Celtic rug, his favorite. I combined a couple of photos to create this pose.
Enjoy!
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…and by all means, if you’ve got a project included in my portfolio, feel free to leave a comment! All of my weekly portrait giveaways, blog designs and paintings are present and accounted for.
Happy browsing!
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Zoey’s reference photo has her lying in a heap of tissue paper (she was working away at shredding it into confetti, my guess is there must have been a graduation party coming up), so in lieu of drawing something not everyone would recognize, I opted to place her on her favorite white oval braided rug. It translates better (though my daughter asked if it was a dinner plate. Not kidding. Would you like fries with that?) – my littlest Chickeymonkey’s reaction was “ooooh FLUFFY!” and that was perfect for me. Fluffy on a dinner plate.
In all seriousness, I love to get the first reactions from my girls because it tells me if the portrait needs more work. It’s honest and raw. In this case, I was already pleased (hence the signature) so their confirmation (after we cleared up the rug thing) was all I needed to feel finished with the portrait.

I finished Josie’s portrait late lastnight, and my work in progress shots require much editing for lighting. I just took this daylight shot and will get it scanned for more accurate details and color – but wanted to share. Her portrait is exactly how I imagined it would be, and her loving personality is so apparent.
My to-do list is crazy big, Martina is singing White Christmas in the family room and I have much to accomplish in a few short hours! Will post the final scan once I have another moment.
xo
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I am really drawn into this offset curled up pose, after looking through all of her photos I thought this best suited her personality and comfort in her surroundings.
I’ll post all of the progress together so you can “watch” the piece as it develops.
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