How the portraits come to life

Sue is owned by a young man I've never met.  His mother asked me to paint her as a gift to him.  The first photos I was given were not usable - too distant, too indistinct, out of focus - so I asked mom to have her son email me photos.  I soon received a bunch of photos.

A number showed Sue in costume: 

Not the look for the portrait, but it gives me a glimpse into her personality.  She happily wears whatever her human puts on her without objection.  

One really caught my eye for it's fun factor: 

  Again, not for the portrait, but can't you just see the personality shining through?  This is a happy, loving dog!

The photo we selected, and both of us had input, was pure Sue.  I cropped it to a more close up view, and this became the basis for the portrait.

Next step, choosing a background.  In certain light some of Sue's shading appears almost lavender.  Nah, not a color for a young man's home.  White or off white would certainly pop her coloring, but on a wrapped canvas, it would melt into light walls.  Nope.  None of the pastels, she's too strong a personality and look for that.  

Finally, I settled on a brick red with quite a bit of brown thrown in.  The owner wants to be surprised, so the balance of the process will be without his input.

Next I laid in the background and did a very rough sketch of our girl. 

Sue gets laid in in almost a color block fashion.  I always like this stage, well except for the empty eyes, as I can begin to see the dog take shape. 

More shading and detail goes in over the next couple of days, then it's time to let it sit, step back and look for things I don't like. 

OK, fix the one ear, it's just wrong.  Soften the shading.  Emphasize the eyes.  Notice that I turned her pose just a bit more forward to have her looking at the viewer.  I like the feel that her eyes look directly out from the portrait. 

 .

 Done!  All that's left is to deliver and wait for feedback.  I'm really anxious to hear from the son/owner and see if it says "SUE" to him.

As an aside, I really loved painting this girl.  I dubbed her Sweet Sue as we went through the process.  I very much admire the American Staffordshire Terrier, aka Pit Bull; and I detest what some humans have done to and with them.  This lovely lady is an example of how they are when treated with love and gentleness.  

A painterly experiment

I just finished painting two small portraits of cats that share a home but are not biological sisters.  They belong to a good friend of mine.  I thought, since she wanted the little 6" x 6" size, that I'd try working on both at once.  It just didn't work for me!

The two girls could not be more different.  Riley, as in Life of, is a black and white long hair.  She's very quiet, almost shy, and tends to be delicate.  Grace, so named in hopes it would bring her some, is a short haired multi colored girl, sturdier in build and tougher in attitude.  Rumor has it that she beats up on her more retiring sister periodically.

The idea that one canvas could be drying while I worked on the other seemed smart, but I didn't factor in that I tend to get, well involved with each critter I paint.  I like to know their names and their personalities and we talk while I paint.  I found that I'd get quiet, feeling gentle when working on Riley.  Then I'd turn to Grace and just couldn't pull up enough oomph for her.  Then I'd settle into Grace for a bit, try to go back to Riley and overwhelm her with brush strokes too quick and rough for her.

So, I set Grace aside and decided to focus on just Riley - she being the first of the two to join my friend's home.  Better, much better.  When Riley was almost done, I brought Grace front and center and found she was ready to cooperate also.  All that was left was finishing touches.

The girls are done on the same background so they can be placed together.  They can face one another or be back to back, depending on their mood.  

I'll be seeing their human this weekend and can't wait to give these to her. 

Soon we'll be launching a new web site devoted to my pet portraits.  Yeah!  It's been a long time coming.


Here is a painting of my father-in-law and his kitty, mixed media, on a combo of canvas and mixed papers,  I would say "featuring" a pet.

And, here is something I did for my husband, he and our two dogs hiking, done in pastel on sanded paper, "including" pets.

And, this is a pet portrait, up close and personal, meant to capture the personality of the pet, done in acrylic on a gallery wrapped canvas, and meant to be hung sans frame.

It's the portraits that will be featured on the new site.  Yes, I'll still do other things; but this will be devoted to critters and those of us who love them.

Keep watching.  I'll let you know when the website, petportraitsbyeddie.com, is up and running.

Yikes!

Has it really been this long since I posted to this blog????

For those who know me, you know the caregiving circumstances we are presently in.  It's taken some time for me to gather my wits, my creativity, my space - both physical and emotional - to be able to paint again, and now to blog.

For now, all I have to say is Coming Soon, my new website at www.petportraitsbyeddie.com.

The Artful Garden

Spring weather and the recouping from Studio Tour have found me wanting to be outside rather than in the studio. Sooooo.......

I've been wanting an herb garden right outside my kitchen door, but the layout of our house and parking don't give me a nice sunny spot. There is, however, a spot on the porch outside the kitchen door that gets nice sun.

Two old galvanized tubs with holes drilled in their bottoms + one small galvanized planter + potting soil + plants = a handy and movable herb garden. When the weather turns cold months from now, I can take each pot separately into my greenhouse for herbs over the winter. How cool is that?




For those who follow my art here, not to worry. Heat will soon have me outside only for very brief early AM hours, then in the studio for lots of work.

Moody

I wanted to paint this for Studio Tour but all the cleaning and framing and prep for Studio Tour took me away from the act of painting.

Anyway, I must be fascinated with Eagles' Nest these days as I keep taking photos of it. This is drawn from a photo taken after one of our wonderful overnight storms. It's pastel on sanded paper.

I know, I know, I said I was into my mixed media stuff; but this just needed to be a pastel to catch the drifty, dreamy, moody sky.

I finished it this morning after getting some sad family news yesterday evening & it may have taken on a bit more of that quality than I originally intended. There is, however, the dawn, the sunlight breaking through. Seems that's always there if I'm willing to look.

A style of my own

Every time I've moved geographically - and boy, I've done that a lot - it affects my art. This move, 5 years ago, is finally settling in. When we came to Three Rivers we lived in about 800 square feet of dilapidated cabin while we were building our house. With 2 big dogs and 2 cats, well, I couldn't find space to paint that didn't involve pet hair. And, with the process of building, I couldn't find creative energy.

Then, we moved into the house. We had barren soil around us from new construction, and much of my energy went into getting the outside in some sort of shape. That, of course, will be a lifetime process; but it's at an acceptable level now. And, that has allowed my creative energies to finally move into the realm of my art in a more dramatic way.

All this leads up to what I'm doing now:


This triptych represents Eagles' Nest peak, which I can see from the east window of my studio. What I've done is start with three 16 x 20 inch canvases. Each of those has about 8 different papers adhered with matte medium - rice paper, various tissue papers, etc. They are scrunched, one of those technical terms I love, and twisted and mounded, to give texture in places I want. Of course, the papers have a character of their own, and I have only partial control of the texture results. I like that. I want my paintings to tell me what they want to be.

After lots of paper application and drying, I can begin to paint. That's when the textures start to come alive. This one is all acrylic; some also have watercolor and/or pastel. So, it's paint, let dry, paint, let dry, and on and on. Finally comes the application of a varnish so the piece can hang without glass. I've chosen a gloss varnish because I like how it highlights the texture.

As a postscript, I'm so glad Studio Tour is over! It's utterly exhausting for me and takes my energy away from my creativity and puts it on the eternal "will it sell" - which I don't like. I'm happier making my art and letting it be appreciated or not. So there.