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

Custom Portrait of Bessie
12″ x 12″ Oil Painting on Gallery Wrapped Canvas
©2010 Leanne Wildermuth
All Rights Reserved

This lovely painting of Bessie was a well received Christmas surprise so this is his post-holiday unveiling! Enjoy!

Custom Portrait of Max (#2)
12″ x 12″ Oil Painting on Gallery Wrapped Canvas
©2010 Leanne Wildermuth
All Rights Reserved

I’ve painted Max a second time now, this time as a “teenager” (view his previous puppy portrait here). This lovely painting was a Christmas gift so this is his post-holiday unveiling! Enjoy!

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!

Custom Portrait of Moggie
8″ x 10″ Oil Painting on Linen Canvas Hardboard
©2010 Leanne Wildermuth
All Rights Reserved

Here’s the final image of Moggie’s fourth portrait, this one is an 8×10 oil painting. Her previous portraits were all in graphite (See Moggie #1, #2, #3) so painting her in oils was a real treat!

My schedule is filling up SO fast, at this rate I will be busy until at least the end of November. I have 11 projects in queue now – quite a variety! I’ll be working on a few custom graphite portraits, at least one in oils, a few blog designs and a couple of photo album designs. I am very excited and blessed to have great clients who keep me creative in so many ways.

I’ll update again very soon with more new work!

I’ve completed Moggie’s portrait! Her whiskers, and suitcase have all been revisited with a couple more layers with very fine brushes and I think she’s just stunning. I am pleased as punch with how she turned out!

Things have definitely picked up around my house so the past few days have been busy busy busy, go go go – and I have not had the chance to get her portrait uploaded here for you to see. I’ve sent the photo to my client for review and approval as well so I’ll be varnishing and scanning and shipping the beginning of next week.

Thanks for popping in for a visit! I’ll post the scan next week some time and hope to find a few moments in the next few days to catch you up on all the other day to day things I’ve been up to. See you soon!

I’ve got a couple more progress shots for you of Moggie’s portrait! The top photo shows how I began working in her stripes first and what the portrait looked like when I began filling in her coat. I thought it was a neat comparison shot to the final under painting beneath, so you can get a better idea how I work through a portrait.

The first thing I work in is the background and foreground, if there is one, and then I paint in the facial features – eyes, nose & ears – then stripes and solids. The only part of the painting that is completely finished at this stage is the gorgeous mustard background. I’ll paint in each hair on her coat again individually – under painting it like this just covers the canvas in the darkest color so I can start laying actual fur over the top.

I might not finish this piece until next week. I don’t use black, since it’s not a natural color found in nature. What appears to be black in my paintings never is – it is a combination of indigo and other dark values found in the painting. For example, Moggie’s “black” is indigo and raw umber, with a touch of burnt umber and yellow ochre where the light is bouncing off of her coat. Indigo seems to be the once color that takes the absolute longest to dry, even when using a medium to speed drying time! Neat little tidbit for you artists who are following along! I quit using black a long, long time ago – doing it this way makes the color so much more real, and rich.

Moggie and I will see you again soon!

Both of my girls are back to school and that means I’m back at the easel! I’ve kicked off my week with Moggie’s portrait, working in the background and the under painting of the blue suitcase that Moggie is lying on in this portrait. This is an 8×10 oil painting on a linen panel, in case you’re wondering! I’ll be finishing this painting by the end of the week, so stay tuned for those updates.

I’ll also be working on another cat portrait, that one is a graphite drawing – as well as a few site designs and updates for clients, so I’m diving right in!