Mingus

This is Mingus! A sweet woman commissioned his portrait as a college graduation gift for her sister, as Mingus was a great study buddy. She was so excited about it she was afraid she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret until graduation. So sweet!

Mingus -  10x10 in. Acrylic on gessobord

Callie on Blue

I've still been experimenting a bit with painting on bright-colored backgrounds, in this case quin. magenta. I'm still not sure how much to leave showing through - I like little bits of it peeping out, but too much and I feel it gets distracting. I'm still trying to find that line. This one is headed for Art 4 Shelter, check it out on May 9th at the MIA!

Callie on Blue - Acrylic on 5x7 in. archival paper

Sunflowers

I found a great sunflowers reference photo on Paint My Photo.com. I was frustrated with the yellows on my palette though. The cad yellow medium was quite dark and warm for what I was going for, and the Hansa yellow was more cool but SO transparent. (It probably didn't help that I was painting on a black background!) Overall I'm happy with how it turned out, but I'd like to try it again on a lighter background to go for cooler, brighter yellows.

Sunflowers - Acrylic on 6x6 in. gessobord

Wiley

Painting this Persian turned out to be a value study! It took me three tries to finally get it right.  Here they are, with the final one first.

Wiley (final) - Acrylic on 6x6 in. gessobord

Wiley - second attempt

Wiley - first attempt

Half-listening

Do you ever get the sense your cat is only half listening to you? Here she’s even got one ear turned away!!

I never get tired of painting Callie’s glorious mane.

Half-listening - Acrylic 6x6 in. on gessobord

Sunny Side

I found this very cool reference photo on Paint My Photo.com. I was curious to see if the photo's cool composition would translate into a painting. This is another of the pieces I've been working on for Art 4 Shelter (May 9th at MIA).

Sunny Side - 5x7in. Acrylic on archival paper

Hollyhocks for Art 4 Shelter

I’m working on a few pieces to donate to Art 4 Shelter.  The sale this year is at the Minneapolis Institute of Art on May 9th.

I accidentally got my "stay wet" palette too wet, which made my paint a bit thinner - but I think it increased the visibility of the brush strokes which is kind of cool. I'm really loving the new paints I've been using.

Hollyhocks - 5x7in. on Guerilla archival paper