WIP 3 cats (pet portrait, grisaille, underpainting, prints)

(For Illustration Friday: modified clouds)

Another pet portrait, this time with a surrealist flair. The background has already been completed; on the three cats you can still see the underpainting. Doing a fantasy or a surreal painting is a bit like conducting a scavenger hunt to find all the necessary reference. The photos of the 3 cats weren't enough; I also made a small clay model of the cats sitting on the rock, plus I got out a little scrap of paper and made it into a little scroll (under the middle cat). Now I'm working on the rock the cats are sitting on. I can't do rocks out of my head! So that turned into a backyard expedition to find interesting rocks, which I hauled into my studio. They look great sitting next to my potted plant, and I can use them in future paintings.

Finished Painting of Profile (oil, glazes, Lady, cat, heron, fish)

"3 Keys to the Loch", 12 x 12 oil on canvas.

I finished the fish & the background, added in the keys, and now it's done. The water in the background looks like a lake, or loch, hence the title. The fish has a lock in its eye, and the other characters in the painting all have a key. Originally I was going to have just one key dangling off the lady's hat, but once I put the lock into the fish, I realized all three of the other characters had to have a key.

I entered this painting into a juried show AVAA 32nd Anniversary (Austin Visual Arts Association). 

Finished Birdie portrait (dog, roses, pet)

"Birdie with Roses" pet portrait, 9x12 oil on canvas. The roses were pretty tough to paint, harder than painting the dog! But I felt all right about them.

I'm taking commissions for pet portraits. Email me if you're interested.

Birdie WIP (pet portrait of dog, grisaille)

"Birdie" Grisaille underpainting in acrylic, 9x12, done from photo. This will be glazed over with oils. Birdie was a very sweet little dog who belonged to my niece. In this portrait I'm hoping to capture a sense of life and Birdie's personality.