Mu

8 x 8" original oil

sold

May's wee eBay painting is Mu. I knew when I chose to use the Greek alphabet to name each of my 2013 eBay paintings it would be funny when I got to Mu. Next comes Nu. ha ha. Not every eBay painting gets a name as cool as Delta or Alpha. I can't wait for Omega. 

This painting is bright, cheery, PINK, and ready for someone's wall who needs a pick-me-up. My originals start at $250 so these little eBay auctions are a great deal with the opening bid at $100 and you are missing out if you let this one slip by!

Happy Spring. It's time for watermelon, flip flops, the smell of cut grass, and the twittering of birds. This painting reminds me of all those happy things.

a detail of the juicy color and brush strokes

Note that this painting is on 3/16" masonite and very easy to pop into a custom frame or table-top easel

Mazie

6 x 6" original oil

commission

 

This beautiful doggie is Mazie. A couple was shopping at Deseret Book in Orem and saw some of my tulip paintings in the original art gallery. They fell in love with my painting style and when they found out I also painted dogs, they contacted me and commissioned me to paint Mazie as a surprise for Father's Day. The wife's father has a love for animals, especially dogs, and Mazie is his baby. I am so excited for him to unwrap his Father's Day present and see his little portrait of Mazie! I just love painting dog portraits, so contact me if you're interested in one, too. 

 

I love Mazie's coloring. The black, white and siennas are so pretty together and provide such a high contrast. Her face looks a lot like my lab's face, and I love the short hair. She is just beautiful. 

 

The hardest part of this painting was her eyes. They are looking right at the viewer and there are so many little colors and reflections in them, and the fur around the eyes has so many changes. I dabbled in this area for a good hour to get it right. The thing about eyes is that you can't get just one right, you have to repeat and get two right, and get them looking in exactly the same direction. I love her little muzzle too, with the whiskers and black nose. In the reference photo she is sitting and leaning against a couch. My dog does that too and it's so funny how they'll lean to one side like a person. My favorite thing about Mazie's pose is that she is leaning to one side, so her shoulders are asymmetrical, balancing the tilt in her head and pronounced ears. 

 

Happy Father's Day to Mazie's dad!! It was my pleasure to do this little portrait of your baby. ;) 

 

a detail of Mazie's face showing all of those little brush strokes in an area only a few inches by a few inches

 

Ben and Leroy

 6 x 6" original oil

sold

commission: 3 of 4

a detail of that shaggy goodness

6 x 6" original oil

sold

commission: 4 of 4

Ben is the shaggy dog, and Leroy is the black dog. These two paintings finish up the commission of four I've been working on. Penelope and Charley were the first two. These four paintings are headed to Texas where the pets all live and play and live a good life.

Ben's painting was intimidating - I won't lie. When I saw that shaggy fur I didn't know where to start. Since I paint alla prima, or all at once wet on wet, I knew I'd have to figure out how to make him look shaggy without just making a mess of wet paint. It turns out if you paint the undercolor first, then paint the shag in thin brushstrokes over the top while it's all still wet, it makes a dog. 

Leroy's painting was even harder since the reference I used from the client was an image of him standing in grass under a shade tree. He's a black dog, so pretty much there were no details available. I had to invent paws and push the contrast on the reference photo so that some of his highlights would show up at all. The other hard thing was getting the reference photo to work in a square composition. I had to cut off his back end to get it to feel balanced. I could have shrunk him down completely so that all of  him would fit in a square, but too much negative space would have dominated and his painting wouldn't have fit with the other three that have minimal negative space in comparison. I pushed the blues and violets on his fur highlights to add something different so it wouldn't be just all black. Thankfully he has a red collar which was a nice peekaboo of color.

A big thank you to Gallery MAR in Park City for arranging these commissions! I love painting pet portraits, so if you'd like one, contact any of my galleries or me and we'll get it going!

Charley

6 x 6" original oil

sold

commission: 2 of 4

Charley the dog. He's a cutie. He's in a group of four paintings headed to Texas. Penelope was the first painting. Charley is the second, and I've got Ben and Leroy coming up. So fun. I imagine them all running around on a little farm having fun together.

Click here to see more of my animal paintings, and I love commissions! Thanks Gallery MAR for coordinating these four.

Penelope

6 x 6" original oil

sold

commission: 1 of 4

Penelope the cow...it's like a character from a children's story book. How cute is she? She is a different breed than I've ever seen, because her body looks more goat-like. 

Gallery MAR, my Park City gallery, does a great job of finding me commissions. Penelope lives in Texas, and her owners were recently in Gallery MAR where they saw my dog paintings and fell in love. They commissioned a painting of their Penelope as well as their three dogs named Leroy, Ben and Charley, which I'll start work on tomorrow.

To see my dog paintings that Penelope's owners fell in love with at the gallery, click here. I love pet commissions!