More than just a pretty tail

The blues in the reference photo I used for this painting were amazing! Unfortunately I could not replicate them exactly.  I hope the background doesn't look overworked, I was going one way with it and then changed direction and went over it with something more subtle and muted.

A fellow painter I know, Robin, had the generous idea of doing one painting a month to donate to Art4shelter's next annual art sale in May 2019. I think that seems like a do-able goal for me, so - just barely, here's one for June.

More than just a pretty tail - Acrylic 5x7 in. on archival cardboard

Quiet Smile

And now for something totally different...here's a painting of a statue. It was fun to try painting a "human" face, but within my comfort zone. I used the Notanizer app to help with finding the values. The reference photo is from pixabay.com, I think I'll hit them up to see if there's more cool statue photos to try.

Quiet Smile - 8x10 in. acrylic on masonite board

Romeo

This is handsome guy is Romeo. I was looking back at some earlier black cats I painted and I feel I’m making progress!

      Romeo - 8x8 in. acrylic on gessobord

Gossips

This is my niece Hazel’s urban flock. Starting at the top center going clockwise around the water cooler we have Ramona, Florence, Blue-chi, Peanuts, Hello Kitty, and Sorrel.

Gossips - 10x10 inch acrylic on gessobord

Tobi

Here is Tobi, a handsome fellow who lives in Idaho. This was more good practice working on painting white fur, which is soooo tricky (for me). The woman who commissioned the painting sent me some fun photos of Tobi, including one where he is drinking out of a tea cup with his paw . Too cute! 

This was painted on a magenta background because she'd previously seen another painting I did that way and loved the bright bits popping through. 

Tobi - 8x10 in. Acrylic on gessobord

I have a few more pet commissions in the works but am also sketching out some non-pet paintings to work on to keep the variety factor going... stay tuned!

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