Stop and smell the roses!

Valentine surprise  12x16 oil

Once in a while I am drawn to something immediately. The combination of the shoes,  purse and flowers grabbed me right away. It all looked so "girly" ! I figured the roses would fade and get droopy before I finished the painting, so I worked diligently on them the first day while still blocking in all my shapes and values. It is usually best to work up everything at the same time, but with something like flowers, I have to make an exception. Because of this, the painting has a somewhat spontaneous quality and freshness that I really like. Be sure to take time to stop and smell the roses.

Pet Portraits

Brittany 11x14 oil

PITA  6x6

As an avid animal lover who raised dogs and cats I like to try my hand painting pets. When my children brought home a stray needing a home, I always caved and our house has been home to many and various animals over the years. When I was asked to paint a dog for the Brittany Rescue Foundation I was really excited and honored. I warmed up painting PiTA the cat while I was thinking about what to paint for a Brittany. I was torn between doing the face only or the entire animal. I settled on the face because there is nothing more touching than a dog's precious eyes looking soulfully out at you. The interesting part doing this was the markings did not follow the contours of the head. Color changes made the modelling somewhat more of a challenge than painting a dog like a golden or lab that is all one color. The dog sitting in the car with the light hitting one side made it work with the highlights and shadows helping to define the form and counterbalance the patterns in the fur. I intentionally left off the dog's collar so it would not be identified as a particular persons dog since it was for the foundation.