United Way Auction
One of my landscape paintings, Arch Rock/Passageway is being auctioned off today at a private function in San Francisco. All proceeds will be donated to United Way.
Here's a closeup of the sunset coming through the hole in the rock:
Ollie's Poodle Portrait in Progress
I'm working on my portrait of Ollie and Sabrina. This is my most recent work on Ollie:
A Girl and her Beagle, Finished
I've finished my portrait of the cute little girl and her beagle. I decided on a dark blue shaded background to contrast with the pink of her dress. Here's the finished portrait:
A Girl and Her Beagle, In Progress
I've been working on my portrait of the little girl and her Beagle. I started with the Beagle's face. I've taped the original photo composite to a blank spot on the canvas for reference. Here's the underpainting:
I used blending medium to keep the underpainting from drying, and began mixing in the main colors.
I added the eyes and nose and put in more detail on the fur.
When I had the dog at an intermediate point, I began work on the girl by laying in the pinks in her skin.
I then covered the pink underpainting with a mixture of Titan Buff and some pinks and browns.
I added the colors around her eyes and mouth before painting them in:
Once I added the eyes, the portrait began to look more lifelike.
I then added her dress and hair, using pink hues throughout to tie it together:
Here's a closeup of their faces:
Next, I'm going to work on adding the rest of their bodies and the background.
Read the rest of this post...Ralphie's Finished Portrait
Ralphie loved to play in the Christmas wrappings. He looks like a wonderful dog. Read the rest of this post...
A Little Girl and her Beagle
I have been working on this portrait of a very cute little girl and her beagle. I started with this original photograph:
I made this rough sketch to map out the pose:
However, this pose didn't show the dog's face very well, so I used this additional photo of the dog to make a variation on my original sketch:
Ralphie the Dachshund, In Progress
Read the rest of this post...
Ralphie the Dachshund
I'm happy to be back to painting after my summer of traveling. My new, larger studio in Mountain View, California is great. I've got a couple of portraits beginning and the first one is of Ralphie:
My Royal Portrait
I've been practicing my people portrait painting this last week. I usually paint portraits of dogs, and occasionally other animals, but I would like to paint more people.
Painting my own species is difficult but I'm practicing by painting a very recognizable face: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She has been photographed throughout her entire life, and has posed for dozens of royal portraits. I like this portrait by Christian Furr at Buckingham Palace. The Queen chose Christian herself to paint this portrait when he was only 28.
I don't have the opportunity to paint her in person but I have been experimenting with painting Queen Elizabeth using old photos.
Here's the start of my small practice painting from a younger photo of the Queen:
I haven't decided whether to add her crown and jewelry. It would make the portrait more recognizable but the plainer, candid feeling is interesting too. I'll think about this as I work on improving the likeness and adding more of the background. It's fun being able to choose the color of her dress and chair.
Chow and Saint Bernard, Finished
Their mom suggested a field of dandelions as a background for them, and I think it set the perfect mood for the painting. I painted the dandelions in greater detail in the foreground, and approximated the further away dandelions with little dots of paint to show perspective. Read the rest of this post...
Jesse the Black Lab
Black smooth haired dogs can be difficult to paint because of the low contrast of the fur. Jesse has a nice shiny coat so I was able to see his features well.
The steps of the portrait are after the jump. Read the rest of this post...
Mocha the Chow Mix
Read the rest of this post...Monte the Saint Bernard
Read the rest of this post...Chow and Saint Bernard, Sketch
I'm going to combine their two photos to make a portrait of them sitting in a field of dandelions. Here's the sketch:
I really like the happy, casual poses in both photos. They both have such great smiles.
Painting of a Girl, In Progress
I took detailed photos of the little girl's painting progress in the people portrait from yesterday's post.
Children and a Lab, Finished
It's been a long time since I last posted but I'm proud to show my new people portrait:
I used this original photo, and added the family dog using supplementary photos:
Read the rest of this post...Malamute Portrait, Finished
I chose a light grey-blue background to set off the cool tones in her fur and the fuzzy pink insides of her ears.
To make the background, I mixed a thick mixture of Carbon Black, Payne's Grey, Titanium White and Ultramarine Blue and applied it with my angle shader brush.
After painting in the background, I used my rake brush to paint in wisps of fur over the edges. Read the rest of this post...
Malamute Portrait in Progress
Here's my progress so far:
Watch the progression up to this point below. Read the rest of this post...
Fig Newton's Pug Portrait
I painted her for my art show at Pride and Pedigree, which has now ended. The gallery owner said that this portrait was her favorite of the series. Here's her finished portrait:
Read the rest of this post...Voxy the Malamute from Alaska
I made two different sketches to choose from - a closeup of her face and a full-body sketch:
The face only pose will allow me to include more detail, especially in the beautiful markings on her face. The full body pose doesn't show as much detail, but it would be nice for including some of the northern landscape she lived in.