day 4 pet portraits

so today it is sunny and i am painting on the screened in porch. I brought Tolstoy and beckett outside with me and i painted to classical music on NPR. I have brought the painting up to the point of adding more detail and getting everything right for the owners. In case you do not know, painting anything black is most difficult since you have to use layers of darks and lights to create contrast. So now i need to work on the curly hair of the poodle and give the cat another look.
Details will go the rug and the painting will be turned upside down to check the composition.

Tolstoy and Beckett on the easel... from Photo to Painting

The Creation of Pet Paintings

So today and for the last few days, i have been trying to figure out how to paint two very elegant animals that live in Califorina. Lucky Beckett, a black Standard Poodle and Tolstoy a very wonderful Russian Blue cat with green eyes have had to pose so i can see what they look like.

It is hard to paint from photos, since you cannot know the animal and it is hard to capture them unless you know them personally...i like to meet the animal i am painting but since i do not live in sunny California, i will stay here in Florida and do my best to get it right.

So here they are...

i decided that their color demanded red so i have started with a red chair and some other furnishings on a 24 x 36 canvas... and will see what i come up with...Last night i painted these to to Mozart. Seems fitting for these two.

new works

So, i have been back in the studio doing some paintings to take to a new chic store called VILLA VILLA here in St Petersburg. Last saturday while combing the antique stores i happened upon this place in what is called the Central area of downtown St Pete. This is an area that is on the way to the beach and several miles from the bay area. So the owner Rhonda has this wonderful place with chairs and sofas covered in linen and great bedding from Belgium and China from Portugal...and a place for children's things...beds and wonderful rocking chairs for moms.

She has paintings on her wall ...seascapes all in plein aire frames, painted by a NC artist.

So today i am taking her some paintings to exhibit in her lovely space in the children's area.

"The Big Red Chair" is a fun one of two dogs...and since we all love the cupcake paintings i did some more of these. Finally i did another painting of some flowers that i call "The Flowers of Casa Carmen"