Sun-bleached Scene (and a case of detailitis)

I've been painting a lot of animals lately so I was feeling pretty rusty for this still life. I liked how sun-bleached the scene was in the reference photo (from Paint My Photo.com). I got it to the point you see here and then went a little overboard with trying to add prickles to the cactus in great detail. The painting didn't seem balanced then in terms of detail, so I tried adding some detail to the wooden door in the background... it was all downhill from there. One of those times I wish there was an "Undo" button. (I could actually feel my brain mentally reaching for Control+Z!). Oh well. Here's the last point at which I liked the painting. Simpler times.

Sun-bleached Scene - Acrylic on 10x10 gessobord

I'm starting a new painting class at Wet Paint tonight with a new teacher - it will mean experimenting with a new color palette, and likely not painting on a black background like I always do. Yikes! It should be interesting - I'll share paintings from the class here!

Birdie

Happy New Year! This is my niece Birdie. She's a little stinker but she gets away with it because she's so cute and so sweet. She was very hard to paint with that crazy little face and her Siamese coloring, it took me several tries.

Birdie - 6x6 Acrylic on gessobord

Here is Birdie in real life...

Loki

Just finished up the last of my Christmas commissions, this is Loki. He was a challenge as an all black cat.  Like a good little student I don't use black paint from a tube, I mix my own. It's much more interesting that way. My first attempt at Loki had him looking too blue, so I started over and was much happier with the second result. The man who commissioned him said it really looked like Loki, yay!

Loki - 12x12 Acrylic on gessobord

TiTi

This cutie is TiTi, who was commissioned to be a Christmas present. This is my first time painting for someone I don't know! She took my card at the little exhibition I had at the Underground Music Cafe and contacted me.  It's a little nerve-wracking, so far when I've done commissions I've always had in the back of my head "Well they have to like it, they're my <friend/sister/uncle/childhood neighbor/cousin/former roommate/etc...>" Anyway she seemed very happy with it. She even kindly instructed me to sign it, saying "You're the artist! You must sign." :)

TiTi - 6x6 acrylic on gessobord

Dog on Red

I painted this one back in May but never got around to photographing and posting it. I usually favor blues and greens for my background colors but was trying something new here.

Dog on Red - 12 x 12 Acrylic

 

Andy's dog, Zeek

This is Zeek, my brother's dog who passed on recently. Zeek lived to a ripe old age and had a wonderful life right up to the end. He was a phenomenal hunter and all-around great dog.



Zeek - Acrylic on 10x10 gessobord

 

German Shepherd

German shepherd. They always look so noble!

German Shepherd - 11x14 Acrylic on gessobord