Down Dog

30 x 22" original oil

sold

Dogs have the best stretches. My favorite part about this painting is that I caught her mid-wag. OK, I have another favorite part: I love how much bigger her front paws are than her back paws, and that her claws are coming out because she's stretching all the way to her "fingertips." She looks so sleepy. I'm sleepy. It's been a long day. 

I'd love to see this in the yoga studio of a dog-lover. It's a perfect combination. My dog sees the best in me and I see the best in her. Namaste. 

Clementine

 24 x 24" original oil

sold

This may be my favorite dog painting I've done. This is my yellow lab, Buttercup. When she is happy, her whole face smiles, and I captured this smile of hers with my cell phone camera no less. We were on the back patio and had been playing her favorite game of  "throw the ball up on the roof and catch it in one bounce or less." I was inspired to title this piece Clementine once I chose the orange background. The word clementine rolls off the tongue nicely, sounds sassy southern, is happy, and conjures thoughts of freshly squeezed OJ aka paradise in a glass. This painting is so full of joy. I love my dog. 

Here is the real dog, as adorable as possible, napping while I work. 

Today's palette and brushes. I see a lot more grays on the palette than I remember using. 

Here is a very happy view of Clementine and in the background you see Butterfly. These will really look sharp once I paint the sides black. I can't wait to deliver these to the gallery! 

Butterfly

30 x 22" original oil

sold

This dog lives at the same house as the boxer puppy I painted previously in I Need a Cape. I love how sweet labs are. This chocolate lab looks like it's watching a butterfly, and since I have a lot of that space cadet tendency myself, I saw an opportunity for a great painting. 

I love the colors in the brushwork in a chocolate lab - so many visible reflections in their shiny coats. That little hit of purple in the reflective areas is my favorite. 

detail

Daughters

22 x 45" original oil

commission

This is my first painting of 2014. It is a commission for a new client who found my work at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building Christmas Art Show. When I learned he would be bringing three daughters to my studio to pick up this painting, it gave me an idea for the title for this feminine piece. 

The client liked Carolyn, Petticoat, and Purity, three sold paintings I have previously painted, and asked if I'd do a painting that combined certain elements of each. I was able to find a bed of flowers with the right light, and I cut up a few different photographs and pieced them together to make this composition. I like the layering and sense of light. My favorite part is the two reflecting petals in the center flower, the one that doesn't have the yellow center. I love it when reflected light brightens a cast shadow. Whites are good for that. 

I love painting whites and getting to mix/use slight variations of creams, pinks, grays, greens, etc. It's amazing how many colors are in one little petal. 

my favorite part

22 x 45" Tulip Commission: Part II

Mixing grays is one of my favorite things to do as a painter. They absorb all colors. It doesn't take much to change a greenish gray to a reddish gray.