Finally finished the final painting of the dog trilogy!

Beau

What a great client!  She was so thrilled with her final painting that she actually gave me a bonus and immediately placed all three together on her mantle where they rule the room!

Summer... the latest rendition

Summer....almost finished

Chip...again

I think I am finished.  I've made some adjustments and added some "frosting on the cake" –– details like whiskers and highlights.  The photography is not accurate,  it looks so much better in real life!  I guess the camera has a hard time with the myriad of colors and the overhead lighting.

Work in progress... Summer and Beau

This portrait of Summer is the 2nd one of three commissioned along with Chip (shown in the earlier post). I'm almost finished and will start on Beau, the third dog in this series. You can see here how I begin, starting on a red canvas, blocking in the background and applying a chalk grid to guide my drawing. I work from a photo reference in my computer.

Chip

I just finished teaching 7 weeks of art camps which has fully occupied my attention.
Here's the painting of Chip which is mostly done. Today, I'm reorganizing my studio and will block in the background for the third painting in this series of Chip's buddy Summer. I can then turn this painting of Chip over to the wonderful woman who commissioned it and had been patiently waiting for it!

Back in the Studio!

I'm back in the studio!

On Tuesday, I laid my colors out onto my palette. I added the finishing touches to "Joey". I'll live with him for a few more days to make adjustments if needed. I sent Ruth , who requested this portrait, a preview and she loves it!

Donna popped in yesterday and said what I always hear about these paintings (but still love to hear again!): "you've really captured the essence of that dog..."

I also worked on the paintings of the two ponies, mainly blocking in the background and the dark values in the horses.

New project

Today I did a second photo shoot for my next commission. I LOVE my job! How cool is it to be in an arena while two Icelandic ponies frolic about? They nimbly avoided running me over.

Their owner loves my work, bought my Venus and Califa paintings, loved Detroit and asked me to paint each of her horses. These will be rather large - 24x36" - and will be quite dramatic hanging together.

On a side note: she says that this breed roams freely in Iceland. They are friendly and will let strangers approach and ride them!

Remember these cats? I had left Tabu red for my recent show, but promised the owner I would make him look more like her cat once the show was over. It was difficult doing so since the reference photo she'd provided was rather washed out (and, frankly, I liked Tabu in a raw, RED state!).

Unfortunately, last week, the owner wrote me to tell me that her cat had just passed away. Am I a lagger or what! Anyway, that motivated me and I got him finished. I emailed a copy of the final work to the clients and they replied:

I love it, Susan. It captures his spirit. I can't tell you how glad I am we had you do this. As hard as it is to look at his spunky little face, and as much as we miss him, we will absolutely treasure this portrait. Some things
are just meant to be...

New Commission

It's wonderful when a lead actually materializes from an art show! I will be painting some icelandic ponies for a woman who has collected my work in the past. Here is my mock-up for how they will fit into her office.

Cat again

I've changed a few things.... this always happens until something sells.

Background

Changed the background and REALLY like it today - but WILL I tomorrow?

Almost done!

Bette Davis

I've been trying to finish Detroit. Didn't have my camera at my studio today so no pics. I made headway on the white boxer. I brought it home and scanned it so here she is. She's been making me nuts with her freaky gums!

And then there's Lucy....

Almost finished with her complicated mess of a face!

Done (for now!)

Slowly building it up

New year, new painting

Thanks for the positive feedback... I've moved on to a much larger canvas and have (finally!) started painting Marissa's crazy cat, Detroit. I posted a pencil sketch here back in November. It's much more satisfying working big (40"x30") but it takes soooo much longer!

Ridley (detail) Acrylic June 2007

My friend Lyn keeps talking about the relevance of blogging and especially loves the Daily Painters blogging web site. I've decided to jump on board in my own way. God knows, my current marketing plan (occasionally entering juried art shows) isn't working.

My last painting, a portrait of my sister's dog, Ridley, took me weeks to paint! Will I be able to crank out a painting in a day??