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.

All three of these 4×4 custom oil paintings are complete now, I’ll get them varnished and scanned in to show you details after Callie has dried (later tomorrow/Thursday).

You can follow Callie, Annie & Momo’s portraits work in progress here.

Momo’s custom cat portrait is drying right beside Annie now, waiting for Callie (tomorrow) and they will be the fabulous trio their Momma knows and loves. Still lovin’ this size and these close-up detailed macro shots for paintings, painting each layer of fur stroke by stroke gives it so much depth and dimension, these kitties could purr (if they had recorded push button purr boxes attached).

You can follow Callie, Annie & Momo’s portraits work in progress here.

I actually got to paint yesterday! WooHoo! It’s been a few weeks, and Callie, Annie & Momo have been patiently waiting on my easel for me to return. Fortunately, there have been a few delays with other projects – and unfortunately, there are delays with my projects. I am not a big fan of holding patterns in any situation – especially those that effect how I manage my own schedule.

It’s causing me to become what I don’t want to be – someone who holds up other people. :bricks:

Like the old saying goes, back to the drawing board. You know, in my studio, where I work on my paintings. You can see Annie’s underpainting and the progress I’ve made so far on Callie, Annie & Momo’s portraits here. I’ll be finishing up the other two over the next couple of days.

My 4×4 paintings are probably my most popular, because they’re the most affordable and they’re actually pretty cool in a group on a wall, like my Eye Ate It series – or in this case, just the three kitties. I put together some custom portrait packages in my Shop to make things easy, so if you’re interested in nabbing up a 4×4 custom portrait painting for Christmas, I can take just a few more orders and get them done before the holiday.

I’ll post the next completed painting when it’s finished – and also the scans when all three are done and dry – so stay tuned for those details!

I completed another painting today, she’s the cutest little puppy girl in her little red dress! This one is going to be a birthday gift – so I’m excited for this portrait to reach it’s final final destination.

You can view Baby Buffy’s portrait progress here. Final scan & detail images to come!

I completed Tess today, you can view her painting as it progressed here. I think her mom will be pleased (mom, let me know if you’re not pleased!) – I’ll get the final scan & post details once she’s dry.

I finished up the background lastnight for this monochromatic portrait of Tess (follow the progress here). My palette for this piece is pretty simple – raw umber, indigo (raw those two mixed are the darkest dark), white, naples yellow and raw sienna. I chose this palette because her mom wanted something that would bring out her natural coat color even though it’s a limited palette, and this is going to be just perfect.

I’ll start showing completed pieces by the end of the day Monday. It’s been a busy week – I’m going to go play in my garden for a while!

I finished up the underpaintings for Callie, Annie & Momo’s second portraits, you can follow progress here. These are pretty loose and are meant to cover the canvas and give me the deepest color to build their layers of fur upon.