Confidence and Cat Art
In which I worked to boost my confidence in painting cats. Especially the nose!
I Love Happy Dog Portraits
There’s nothing better than painting a happy dog! I love doing portrait commissions of smiling pooches. From my perspective, as the artist doing the painting, portraying a happy dog makes the portrait come alive. It adds a great real life quality to the dog, and makes it impossible to dismiss. There’s nothing wrong with a serious dog, and I enjoy painting those portraits as well. But working on a happy, smiling dog portrait is a …
Painting Dog Portraits at a Craft Fair
What’s so interesting about dog painting demos at craft fairs? You never know what’s going to happen next.
New Portraits Added to Samples Page
My portrait samples page has grown a bit with 23 new entries.
Best Buddies – a Pet Portrait Video
Nothing shakes away the winter blues (for me anyway) better than a pleasant pet portrait video set to a happy jazzy tune. I think you’ll feel the same after watching. In under four minutes you’ll see these two best buddies take shape before your eyes! This is a video of me painting in Rebelle Pro 8 a pet portrait of my dear Hudson (who passed last June) and his good buddy Frank (who is still …
Sleepy Dog Portrait
Here’s the story of Otter, a last minute portrait order in 2023 and how he’s really not sad, just sleepy.
Mr. Mo Is A Happy Little Dog
A happy little dog portrait painted for Christmas 2024.
Double Trouble with Millie and Bear
The customer wanted a portrait of both her dogs together. No problem. She provided several photos of each dog. Again, no problem; I can sketch both dogs together as my starting point. I painted Millie as a small terrier and Bear as a medium-size dog and sent a proof. Almost immediately I received a panicked reply saying that both dogs are the same size! She was afraid the portrait was set in concrete at that …
Lucy and Blue
Lucy and Blue is a combo portrait of two dogs on separate photos. I painted this portrait during the 2024 Christmas season. I created sixteen paintings in the marathon month of November (see my previous post). Using different photo references is tricky for a lot of reasons. I usually request several photo options of each pet. This helps me in the process of creating an awesome portrait. If the photos I’m given are clear enough, …
Hudson’s Farewell Month
My dog, Hudson, an Old-English Mastiff of 115 pounds, and not even six years old, has bone cancer. We’ll be saying goodbye in a matter or weeks, or even days. We love our dogs. They’re family. This sad news hit me hard, inhibiting my ill-informed, occasionally coherent scribblings here. You can read all about bone cancer on the VetMD site. It’s a real bitch of a disease, akin to brutal punishment or torture. For Hudson, …