The "EEK!!!" Stage of a Painting ...

You've all heard, and probably gone through, the "ugly" stage with a painting. The "eek" stage is the one before that! This is definitely the "eek" stage here ... two little brown blobs with a larger pink blob below. 

She looks more like a dog - eyes darkened, and the first wash of a background color. 

... and Drake looked quite strange at this point.

I quickly added some shadows, and more detail around eyes, nose and mouth.

He looks almost handsome. Right now, I am doing thin glazes almost everywhere on the painting. The colors I am using are quin. rose, cobalt blue, quin.violet, quin. burnt orange and indanthrone. The painting is moving well, and maybe ... just maybe ... I'll finish this week. I am thinking of doing a soft, sfumato background, lighter on top, darker below.

Thank you so much for dropping by!

Two Doggish Drawings to Start the New Year

Meet Drake. He belongs to a friend [and fellow hygienist] living in Calgary.  Betty is probably one of the most genuinely kind and sweet people I know. She's retired from being a dental hygienist, and lives with one of her sons and his family in Calgary. As the parents both work, Betty is primarily in charge of Drake. From what I've heard, he is a young, high-energy, mostly Malamute rescue dog from up north. And Betty asked me to do a portrait of him.
Above is my line drawing. I almost always use a grid for the initial drawing, and then move to more shading and detail in the next one.

This was done from Betty's favorite photo of Drake. He has an intense look to his eyes, and a happy-go-lucky grin.

My client downloaded more photos of her Westie, and I found this pose to be irresistible, so here we go again ...

I wish you all a wonderful, healthy and creative New Year!!!

Thank you so much for dropping by! 

JOY ... Miss P. Is Looking Pretty Darn GOOD!

I thought I'd post these in reverse order, only because I want this photo at the beginning.
Here, I've removed the masking, and finished off the scarf - adding touches of black detail, and softening the whites in the shadow area with some pink/orange mix.
I have also darkened the black of her lips, and started doing some detail work with her facial hair. 

After several washes of the pink/orange mixture, the scarf looks all right.  I've darkened her nose a bit more, and added some of a purply color around her eyes where the skin color shows through the hair.

I painted the scarf with permanent rose and quin. burnt orange, and the "lines" of the shadows in the scarf with indanthrone. I shadowed the tongue with a mix of my favorite "animal" colors.

I needed to put some darks down right away, to see how dark to paint the shadows in her coat.
The tongue is pink and orange, as are the lighter spots around her lips. The black is burnt orange, violet and indanthrone.

And this is the first Miss P. I started ... still needing a bit more work with her hair.

This is it for now. It's teeming rain, so I got a good four hours of solid painting done this morning, and hopefully this afternoon I am able to finish at least one of the Westie portraits. My next projects will be a horse by the name of Voodoo [and he suits the name!] and a friend's dog, called Drake. Looking forward to both of them!

Thank you for dropping by! And have a wonderful and safe holiday!!! 

I Haven't Been This HAPPY Working/Playing with a Painting in Months!!!

I have started my second try at Miss P. I painted the background doing a w/w wash with permanent rose and quin. burnt orange, and then scrumbled with those colors and cobalt blue. Then I did another rough application with a violet made of indanthrone and pink. 

... quick bit of shadowing ...

... and now she is starting to look like the adorable dog she is!

I love expressing emotions in animals' faces. I painted this one, called "The Laughing Labrador",  several years ago for a good friend.

I love the expression she has here - another face full of happiness! Just began last night, with two washes of phthalo blue for the background, and am working on her face this morning. I have no idea what color to paint her scarf - I need it bright and sunny, but not overwhelming. Any ideas???

I really haven't been this excited and pleased with painting in months. But working on these two portraits is such a joy!Thank you so much for dropping by!

Starting to Get a Feel for the Portrait ... or ... Miss P. Continued ...

I started with some masking on her nose, and a few hairs around her eyes. Then I did a few washes on nose and eyes. It looks so weird at this stage!

She was looking a bit like a dog here. For pigments I used permanent rose on the nose and ears, mixed with quin. burnt orange. For everything else, I used mixtures of quin, burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone.

A background was needed to see how dark I could go with the shadows in her coat. Here I did a w/w wash with aureolin, then when it dried, another w/w wash of quin. burnt orange to warm it up. 

Then I played with the black mixture I was using for her coat ...

Finally, I feel good about where I am going ... how to approach painting her. I am using stronger glazes for her coat, and painting them directly. And I have darkened the background. This is another trial run for Pucca, and I am pleased with this! For the next [and final, I hope] one, I will correct the drawing error in the dashing and debonair scarf she is wearing. For some reason, I left the drawing incomplete with the scarf, and when it came to painting it, I blooped! I will also be much more comfortable getting those shadows done in her coat. I think a slightly different format will be better, too - shorter and wider.

Thank you so much for dropping by!

More Thinking and Sketching Rather than Painting ...

I did a quick poured type of watercolor of Miss P. and a friend, heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge. I had sketched all sorts of San Francisco backgrounds - they were at the pier at Embarcadero, up in Pacific Heights and Nob Hill - till I finally found this one to look best.

This was a more traditional portrait drawing. I quite like this one. I'll try painting it, once I decide on colors.

And this is the other sketch I did. This one was from a photo of Miss P. at the beach. She looked like she was having such an utterly fantastic time. From her owner, I found out that sunning is one of her big loves, just one down from food!

Well, I have a few ideas percolating in my head. I'll get working on them this weekend as paintings, once I decide on format and color.

Thank you so much for dropping by! 

Experimenting ... or ... I Am Being Pulled Out of My Safe Zone

Some experimenting going on!
This is a LONG way from finished. And I know I will be doing many more renditions of this wonderful dog. I have about thirty photos of her, all different, all full of life and humor. Her owner recently requested a commission of Miss P., and I accepted with great enthusiasm. This Westie has such personality, such character, it is amazing! She and her owner [a watercolor painter and teacher]  both seize life, and savor every morsel. I find I am being pulled out of my usual approach to painting, exploring ways to express this joy in living.

This is another painting I started late last week. I thought I would re-visit one of my earlier paintings [below] but this is as far as I got. Miss P. is so much more compelling.

I believe I am going through another growth phase, always hard, but the results are great. With painting, I am being pulled out my usual ways, trying to really express some strong emotion in my work.

With riding, I have also taken some steps forward. I have always preferred at least a bit of control. As a result, I have done almost all my riding in the ring. But Sunday, two of my neighbors made me an offer I couldn't refuse. They saw me heading home from a walk with Maggie, and said - go home, change, throw a saddle on Bruno - we're going in the park. So I did! Thanks to their wonderful companionship, I was so comfortable riding him into the "unknown". Yesterday, I took him out on the trails solo! And I got the feeling from Bruno that he loved it, and wanted to keep on going. 

A very strange thing happened yesterday. I woke up, went into the kitchen, and found the chinchilla cage OPEN! ... and one was missing. I quickly shut the window [if he got out, he was a goner], put the cat in the bedroom, and Maggie outside. Maggie had been lying, staring at one of the sofas, so I was fairly sure the chin was under it. After a rousing, merry chase, I caught him, and put him safely back in the cage. The question is - how did the cage door open? I now have a large safety clip on the door. Never a dull moment!!!

Thank you so much for visiting!