PEOPLE AND PLACES - MORE RECENT WORK ..

Savannah at 18
I was invited to Savannah's family birthday party, and it was a wonderful time. For a gift, I drew this portrait based on a photo I took when Savannah and her family and I went hiking up Mt. Baker. Savannah and her mom were so happy with the portrait!

Paulina
This is my niece; the photo reference was sent to me by my sister. I was so struck by the intensity of her gaze, I started drawing it, just as an exercise. Her mom loved it so much, she asked me to finish it for her.

Here are two drawing studies I did for our watercolour class. They are based on photos of Black Rock Beach in Wales, and were generously offered as reference photos by Barb Thurgood. I am still working on the watercolour version of these.

Thank you for visiting!

LATEST WORKS ...

Another pose of my Australian friend's beloved dog. Must get around to mailing them ...

A friend's bull terrier, given as a Christmas gift.

I am still working on a watercolour version of the portrait.

A commission done for a birthday gift. The pup had just arrived by plane, and was being held and cherished by her new mom.

Linda kindly sent me a photo of Asia, posing with her portrait under the Christmas tree. She was so thrilled with her portrait that she was crying [from joy, I hope :) ]


Thank you for dropping by - hope you enjoyed your visit!

LATEST WORKS ...

This was a recent class project. I combined two reference photos - one of a glorious sunset, and another of some nearby farm buildings.

I started this over three weeks ago, and just can't get motivated to finish it.

I completed this painting of a friend's horse. Cathy helped me a lot when I was recuperating from the hip surgery, and I promised to get a portrait of her [and her daughter's] retired eventing horse. He and Bruno are over-the-fence buddies. His name is Blue, hence the broad stripe of colour. I quite like the more animated pose of Blue, and the random streak of colour. I think it makes the work more dynamic and alive. I was so happy that Cathy and her daughter loved it.

This is another "Blue" portrait - one of our neighbour's blue heeler, named Blue. Donald and Linda live around the corner on a farm that has been in Linda's family for a few generations. They are both good people, and Donald often helps my landlady and me with mechanical work and farm advice. I have been doing a lot more drawing lately, started this, and felt it turned out well. So I took it over to them.

And this is Mitch. He was an Australian heeler, much loved by a far-away friend. I met Eugene while doing my second stint at university; he tutored me in organic chemistry. From there, we developed a long-distance friendship. I'd like to do a few more drawings or paintings of Mitch, and send them off to Australia to Eugene.

So that's life on the farm right now. Thank you for dropping by!

THE BABE

Here's one of the baby barn swallows on his first day of flying lessons, taking a breather on the floor.  I took this while lying on my belly about 10 feet from him.

Drawing and notes on composition and format.

Getting some local color in the feathers - quin. burnt orange, phthalo blue and indanthrone.

This image belongs before the one above, but blogger wouldn't let me re-arrange them.  I started with the eyes and some of the darker feathers.

More feathering, and a thin grey wash to start the background, so I have an idea of how dark to go with the swallow.

Still more work on feathers, and some hay bits around his feet.

Almost done ...

THE BABE
14 x 11 in./ 36 x 28 cm. framable
$275.00 US

I love having swallows in the barn ... hearing them chatter away, watching their antics. Dad arrives first in late April, checking to see if the nest is still available. Then Mom comes along a day or two later, and the two of them discus the nest, and re-decorate. The nestlings appear a few weeks later, and stay in the nest for two weeks till the parents start encouraging them to fly. Then they all stay in the nest and nearby rafters for a few weeks. And quite often there is a second batch of babies.
I suppose I could paint something more topical and angst-y, but my heart would not be in it. The world could be a hard, cruel and demanding place, and I do see it and feel it [and have nightmares about it], but I just cannot create art based on discordant harshness.

Thank you so much for dropping by!

Doubling Down with Louis-Dog

Louis-Dog the first

Starting L-D the second - masking much less, and using  lighter touch on the eyes.

Underglaze of quin. pink and lavender [quin. pink and phthalo blue]  before starting the greys, made with  the pink, quin. burnt orange and indanthrone blue.

Here is the finished L-D the second. This is my preferred version; I think she looks younger, and dare I say, more vibrant. I also like the quieter background. Louis was painted as a gift from my riding instructor for her sister's birthday. When I had Rhonda over to take a look, she loved both versions [as did her sister], so they both were sent pout to Calgary. And I have many "free" riding lessons as payment.

I also FINALLY finished the last of the cat portraits, and they should be arriving at their home early next week.  [Apologies, the color is a bit washed out in this image.] I also added some whiskers using thinned down gesso.  I hate to say it, but this commission was an ordeal - took over two years from concept to completion. I had absolutely no desire to paint or draw - my aunt had cancer. I often read that one "should" draw, paint, create ALL the time. For me, that is just not feasible; if I paint when I'm down, I create garbage. Anyway ...

Thank you for dropping by!