Painting from life (peonies!)

Our beautiful blooming peonies inspired me to go out of my comfort zone and paint from a still life set-up. I almost always paint from reference photos. Truth be told, I did snap a picture of my still life set up to help with sketching it out, but then I painted from life. It's amazing how much more color and definition there is in life than there was in the photo I took! (though granted I was just using my phone camera).  I need to work on the subtly of my shadows, they are too dramatic.

Peonies Day 1 - Acrylic on 6x8 in. gessobord

Through the viewfinder

Peonies Day 2 - Acrylic on 6x6 in. hardboard panel

Annie

This is another kitty I couldn’t resist painting. I usually do plain solid backgrounds, so it was fun to try some furniture and throw pillows. I may touch up the chest fur a bit, I’m not sure it’s quite right.

Annie - Acrylic on 6x8 in. gessobord 

Zoey

This was a tricky commission. The photo the owner wanted to use had lighting that made the dog look like a chocolate lab, but the other provided photos showed - and the owner confirmed - the dog was actually charcoal gray. I guess the old "value is more important than color" held true, by trying to keep the values consistent but change out the color I was using I think I was able to pull it off! And as a side note, I really should learn Photoshop or some photo editing magic tricks to modify the reference photo up front rather than having to do the conversion in my head. :)

Zoey - Acrylic on 8x8 inch gessobord

Irresistible Focus

I saw this kitty and just HAD to paint it, such great light and focus! I’ve had a few paintings I’ve felt very “meh” about lately so I was really happy to feel excited about how this one turned out. It was also really fun to paint on a black background again, it’s been a while old friend.

Focus 2 - Acrylic on 6x6 in. hardboard panel

Sunlight

I've been obsessed with Holly Lombardo's tree paintings for a while now,  I love her use of color and simplification of the nature scenes she paints.  I've been inspired to try some tree scenes of my own. This is from a reference photo on Paint My Photo.com.

Sunlight - Acrylic on 5x7 in. gessobord

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Cadmium Comet

This was a paint rescue mission! I mixed some paint for another painting that ended up going south, and I realized the colors were right for this boat I’ve been wanting to paint. Lots of cadmium colors in this one.

Cadmium Comet - 6x8 in. on gessobord

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Lance

This sweet boy is Lance, he crossed the rainbow bridge in December and the painting was commissioned as a Mother's Day gift.  I was glad I'd painted a few German Shepherds before, their variegated (is that the right word?) fur can be tricky and I felt more confident going in.

Lance - 8x10 in. on gessobord panel