Iris and Buster

Iris is the granddaughter of a friend and she took a nice photograph of her when she visited her recently. I loved the red boots and baggy sweatshirt. I added the little Westie for interest.

16" x 20" oil on canvas

Can We Take Him Home?

Woodhouse- a German Shepherd- Lab Puppy

This is a commissioned painting of a dog I painted for Mary B. for her son's wedding. Yes, dog portraits are pretty in vogue now. In the old days- like the 1800's-- people wanted portraits of their family members. Now they want their pets immortalized. It's OK with me. I love painting dogs, especially when they have soulful eyes, like this pooch.

WOODHOUSE

9" X 12" OIL ON CANVAS

Remy, a Pit Bull, 11 x 14 oil on linen

Remy was a loyal friend of the family for many years. An American Pit Bull Terrier, he defied the stereotypes and was a gently companion to their children for many years. I was commissioned to paint him as a gift for his owners.

A Sheltie Named Joy

This is a painting of a Sheltie named Joy. I find these collie type dogs as hard to paint as wolves. Now that I've done this one I'm ready to do one of my Border Collie/Aussie mix. He is a beautiful boy, but he doesn't care much for strangers.

8" x 10"

oil on canvas

Chelsea, an Alien (I mean an Italian Greyhound)

A fragile and delicate canine! A birthday gift for a lucky mom purchased by her daughter.

11" x 14"

oil on canvas

Parker and Penney

Two rescue dogs from the same litter, Parker and Penney are inseparable. I painted this portrait from 5-6 different photo references, the best of which featured the canines cavorting on a pontoon boat! I get the impression they are QUITE spoiled.

11"x 14"oil on canvas

Kosmo

Kosmo is a lovable German Shepherd who lives in Canada on a farm with numerous cats, chickens and other critters. His owners wanted a painting of him because he is getting older and his health is failing. Luckily they took some pictures when he was younger and in his prime.

Clear well lit photographs are definitely the key to a successful painting.

9" x 12" oil on canvas

Kosmo

Three Dog Night

OK, it took me more than three nights to paint these cute little fellas. They all live together in complete harmony with their human family. Again, maybe that is a bit inaccurate; they do not always get along. Their "mom" took a series of pictures of them sitting on her bed. I used what I could. The photos were a bit blurry but she didn't use the flash and that worked out well. There is nice back lighting in places, that created an almost golden glow and gave me some ideas for the painting.

Jack, on the left, is the leader. He is a true Jack Russell Terrier. The other two are mixed, but still adorable. The baby, Endo, is in the middle and the old man of the group, Beeko, is on the right.

This is not the most dogs I have ever put in a portrait. I did five Shelties a few years ago.

12" x 16" Oil on Linen

Adorable

I always tell the client to send me more than one picture of their pet when they commission a painting. Often one photo will present a better view or angle than another. I like to have choices. I think that after all these years of creating paintings I may have a better idea of what will make a painting work. Sure, I can reproduce a photograph exactly and make the painting look like the picture, but where's the fun in that? I want to leave my own imprint on it.

Fran gave me three pictures and while the little dog's head is half-buried in the blanket here and is showing clearly in the other two, I still felt drawn to this one. There is emotion here. The little dog seems to be tucked in for the night with his blanket and his favorite toy.

So I changed the angle of the bed a little and I moved the eyes of his "baby" so it appears to be looking at him and the painting immediately became more compelling. Now he is looking at us and his doggy doll is looking at him. It's a fun painting now, not just a painting of a dog lying down on a bed.

11" x 14" Oil on Canvas

Riva, A German Shepherd Dog, oil painting

My final painting in the 2013 Canine Parade of Christmas Pet Portraits: Riva!!

Riva will be a Christmas gift for Kira's parents. Their German Shepherd passed away this year and they miss her greatly so hopefully this painting will provide some comfort and a nice remembrance of her. When your children are grown and out of the home your pets can become almost like children. I know mine are very close to my heart.

The reference photo had some problems. You know how the animals look in the road at night right before you slam on your brakes to avoid hitting them? They have this unholy gleam in their eyes. Well, Riva's picture had that too and this was the best reference I was offered. Once again, Google to the rescue! I found a dog at L.A. German Shepherd Rescue that looked almost identical to Riva and I used her as the reference for the eys and a few other details that simply were not clear in the low res blurry photo I was given.

People- I can't stress enough how important a good reference is if you want a good painting. I could never produce a head and shoulders painting of Riva from the photo provided but I was able to make a pretty good painting of her guarding the door to her home. This was her parent's favorite picture so I really tried to work that door into it. And the red does look wonderful against the black fur and accented by her red collar.

Taffy, a Cockapoo and a Christmas Miracle?

This adorable little dog has passed on and her owner misses her greatly. His son commissioned a painting but unfortunately he didn't have any good pictures. I am going to share the reference photo I used because I have never had one this bad and been able to make it work.

Now we will rename my studio the Miraculous Pet Portrait Emporium... for coming up with a likeness based on this photo and numerous googled reference images of 'white cockapoos'.

The client liked the result so I hope the bereaved owner recognizes his little friend in this portrait too.

I have to emphasize that this is a miracle that even the most skilled photographer probably could not replicate, so we oil painters do perform useful services!

Archie-- an Older Lab

This is a portrait of Archie that I did over the weekend. The portrait will be a Christmas gift. This dog really has personality plus. Every photo I was given had the dog smiling with his tongue hanging open. So, I guess that's his typical look. We strive to be authentic here at the Magical Instamatic Pet Portrait Palace...so here it is:

Archie

9" x 12"

oil on canvas

Jezabelle, a Lab Mix

You never know what kind of pictures you're going to get when someone asks you to paint their dog. You can ask them to take the dog outside and put her in the shade and take a few close ups and some from far away. And you will still have people who take out their cell phone and shoot a couple photos indoors with bad lighting, email them to you and ask, "Are any of these good?"

Sometimes it works Ok, though, even if the photos were taken inside. This dog has an obviously needy look to her and she is quite adorable. Yes, her nose was too large thanks to the odd perspective in the photo, but I made it a bit smaller and her pretty eyes are just begging us to love her.

9" x 12"

Jezabelle

Winnie, a Goldendoodle

Winnie is a surprise for the client's niece for Christmas. She is a very sweet looking dog and as soon as I saw her picture I thought to myself-- I want one of these! Then I thought- No, I can't have another dog. Then the voice in my mind said, "Sure you can. What's one more?" I have a Golden mix and she is a joy. I can see why these Goldendoodles have become so popular. They look like stuffed animals and they reportedly have the even temper and loving personality of the Golden Retriever. Plus they don't shed.

I am seriously considering it. No, I'm not. Yes, I am. Feeling. Ambivalent.

WINNIE

8" x 10" oil on canvas

Things I Learn from Teaching Workshops

I like to look at every experience as an opportunity to learn something new, even when I'm the teacher! It keeps my eyes open to new ways of seeing and my mind thinking about new ways to do things. Last week I taught another workshop on painting animals. Since it was a week-long class I decided to start with a drawing lesson first. I truly believe that you can't be a good painter until you've mastered drawing. Many people take one of my classes and come in with no drawing experience, and they're able to turn out some nice generic landscapes. However, to actually learn and understand how to model three dimensional objects drawing skills are a must.

We started with a cat and learned an easy way to get proportions right by using one standard unit of measure, in this instance the distance from the outside of the cat's left eye to the outside of it's right eye. Then we used that measurement to judge the proportions of everything else when we put our marks down. Even the 12 year olds (the youngest I allowed in the class) seemed to understand this.

We started our acrylic paintings the next day. Everyone tried to paint my little Gold Retriever puppy with the rose, and most of them were successful. A few students wanted to branch out on their own projects and that was OK with me too.

Two people in the class had been creating art for many, many years and to my great surprise these students were the slowest to grasp the concepts I was teaching. I do not think this was a case of not being able to teach an old dog new tricks. I've never believed that anyway. Dogs are smart and they can learn a new trick at any age. What I do believe is that these artists had been doing things in a different way for so many years that they actually BLINDED themselves to the possibility of doing it another way. At some point in their artistic journey their minds had become closed to the possibilities. I don't believe this was intentional. I think it happens whenever you become too focused on the process instead of the results. I have noticed that a lot of artists can tell me what they want to do: paint looser, forget the detail etc.. I'm not sure these artists have every tried to do this on their own though. They wait for someone to come along and SHOW them how, when they should be figuring out on their own how to achieve this, putting in some practice time and then ironing out the details at a workshop. Instead they expect to master the whole concept in one week. It can't be done.

On the other hand, the students who had no idea how to proceed were able to follow along more easily as they had no preconceptions about HOW to achieve the result they wanted. I've included a few pictures of the participants and some of the student's work here. It was an acrylic painting class but I admit to taking my dog home and doctoring him up with my oil paints. :)

Lasting Memories

This is Mac, who lived to the ripe old age (for a dog), of 14 years. His owner, Ron, commissioned me to paint a picture of him after he passed away recently. Ron loved Mac very much and although he owned many other dogs, Mac was special. He thinks that might be because Mac was acquired after their children left the nest. I think we do spend more time with our pets when we're not busy raising children.  It's only natural that our animals might become like children too, especially if they are bright and energetic, as Border Collies tend to be. I own a Border-Collie mix and he is a sweet, yet determined boy who is fiercely loyal but too smart for his own good.

Ron did not have many good photos of Mac, so I used a combination of pictures to get the details right. He had one request that could only be accomplished by an artist-- remove the cataracts that clouded Mac's eyes in the last few years of his life. We know he's seeing clearly in Heaven so why not have those lovely bright eyes looking out at the world?

Mac 

11" x 14"

oil on canvas

Chloe was a wonderful companion

My dog, Jake, has been ill for the past week or so and I am concerned about him. His illness reminds me of the losses I have experienced in the past when one of my furry friends have passed. I found a picture of Chloe, our blonde Golden Retriever, a few months ago. Chloe has been gone for almost 8 years but I remember her gentleness and sweetness vividly. It's the nature of the Golden to be loving and to know no strangers. That's probably why I adopted another one from the local Golden Retriever rescue group when she passed. Our new Golden Retriever, who we named Autumn, is a reddish blond, quite unlike Chloe was, but possessing the same 'golden' personality and carefree approach to life. Autumn expresses her blondness by chasing the shadows of leaves across the driveway. Chloe tended to wander away and visit neighbors she did not know, blissfully unaware of the time and when she was supposed to be home.

Although Chloe was definitely NOT a hunter she could pose and point very prettily. When she happened to be lucky enough to catch a bird she was not sure what to do with it. Once she found one and repeatedly tossed it in the air until I caught her. She probably thought the bird was playing!

9" x 12" oil on linen

French Bulldog Puppy

This is a small painting of my friend's tiny French Bulldog puppy. She is quite a doll. This type of dog is friendly, athletic, even-tempered and good with children. They also have faces that can seem almost human at times.

8" x 8"
oil on canvas

Some Dogs Have Personality Plus

Moose is an Old English Sheepdog. This painting will be presented to his owner as a Christmas gift. I can't say it enough- the key to a great painting of your pet is a great picture, which Moose's mom was able to provide. The multi-layered hair was a LOT of fun to paint.

16" x 12"

Moose

Munson Has Great Presence

This American Pit Bull, named Munson, is owned by the Jordan family of Athens, GA. This painting is a gift for Munson's owner, and was ordered by two of her daughters. The photo reference they provided was great, which is always the most important thing. The dogs appears majestic and at ease as he lies on the soft green grass. His pinkish skin is a natural foil to the yellow greenlawn and I played that up quite a bit. The intelligence shining from his eyes is unmistakeable.

Wonderful dog... sometimes you just know when a painting will become a popular print order. I am so tired of Pit Bulls being demonized by the press. Sure there are bad pit bulls, but there are bad dogs of EVERY breed. Owners need to take responsibility for their dogs and train them. You don't keep a loaded gun in the house without knowing how to use it and you don't become the owner of an aggressive type of dog without learning how to train it and make it listen to you.

11" x 14" oil on canvas

Munson