Holiday Wishes

"Pomegranate in White"
9X12
Oil on Board
Private Collection

What a fast and furious year this has been! This painting is the image I used for my greeting cards this year. As I am winding up the year, having finished the last commissions for Christmas, and trying to finish the Christmas baking, shopping, wrapping, decorating, etc. I am thinking about all of the blessings of the year, especially the new friends who have come my way through my blogs and paintings. And of course I am thinking about all of the paintings hovering in my mind that are eager to emerge in the coming year.

Thank you to all who have purchased paintings from me this past year. And also thank you to those who took the time to comment and email me. I wish you all Merry Christmas and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Blond Lab Named Lucy - Finished

"Lucy, Blond Lab"
12X16
Acrylic on Canvas
Commissioned

Click on the picture to enlarge the view!

One more Christmas commission finished and ready to go! Makes me feel like one of Santa's elves....
It's pouring rain here and it is nearly 11:00 p.m., so the photo is under incandescent light. Best I could do this tonight, but I may take another photo tomorrow. This was difficult, but fun...if that makes any sense. I hope the owner will be happy with this portrait of their family pet, Lucy. She must be very sweet...I can tell by her eyes.

On to the next painting...stay tuned!!

Blond Lab Named Lucy - WIP

"Lucy the Blond Lab"
12X16
Acrylic
Commissioned

Lest ye think I am sitting on my thumbs, here is the current project. Though it is a Work in Progress, I stuck it into one of my frames just to assess direction and cues on how it is going...and took a photo of that for you.

This is a jump from my usual in that it is acrylic. You see, it's a commission for a Christmas present and this one came in too late to do it in oils. That's fine..but I have not been working with acrylics for the past three or four years, so I am struggling a bit with technique and getting the fur to blend how I would wish. And the client wants geraniums in the painting that are not in the photo, so I am having to fictionalize flowers that are not there. The other challenge here is that the working photo was taken with a flash......aaaarrrrgh. My tip to any and all out there who wish to have paintings done from photos...please do not ever use the flash. It just takes out all of the natural shadows, inuendos, subtle softness of reality and natural color. So that is the thing that is driving me most crazy here. As always, I am delighted to take commissions. This one came through a third party, so I could not give instructions on the photography before the project landed. Hope I can achieve the desired painting for the client...

Will post the finished painting when I get it done.
Stay tuned!! :-)