I am playing around with ideas for a more distanced portrait. Sometimes it is nice to get the person in their daily element. This is Stephen – a farmer and a craftsman by trade. This was a composition, colors, and values practice sketch. Expect a few more to be posted before I decide which one to go with for the larger version.
Sassy, a poodle/rat terrier mix (Ratty) was a great challenge on how to show a salt and pepper coat. I chose to go with a line and wash style, using Micron pens and then Daniel Smith watercolors over that.
I always start with eyes. If I can’t get those right, I start over because nothing will work right from that point forward. The owner was thrilled with the eyes, so we got a win! The Rat Terrier is strong in this girl, and she is smart as a whip.
I put out a call to my Facebook friends for pets to practice my line work and inkwash on this year. I was planning to pull out of a hat, lottery style, but I could not do it. How can we reject any of these precious pets? Fortunately the submissions were manageable and I have been working on these Inktober submissions until all are done. Here is the final one and rounds out 2022 on a lovely note.
I chose to do more line and a large brush wash on her.
Sweet Lily appeared on an ornament commission a few years ago! It was fun to revisit her cute face in another medium.
These 2 cats were watercolor memorial gifts for a friend. Her dog was an Inktober image you may have seen months ago. It is always such a pleasure and an honor to do these.
I know my art has always been about gifting and bringing joy to another human being. Finding that special image that helps heal their heart and show some kindness and gentleness in the world. Pet portraits do just that, so it is no surprise that I gravitate to them as a choice of expression.
A Golden Crowned Kinglet who I later watercolored, and 2 more birds I plan to watercolor.
Bailey-girl: this was a late Christmas gift (the cobbler’s children, right?) to a friend who lost her bestest friend a couple of years ago. It is a companion piece to the other Sheltie I painted for her a couple of months ago.
Positive Memories – my absolute favorite gift to give to others. Whether in the making of new ones, or in the commemorating the memories of old.
Something I have been doing with these inked pet commissions is asking for donations to a favorite local dog rescue where we have gotten our dogs in the past.
These rescues are suffering during covid times, so every little bit helps. I appreciate those who are donating this way! Makes me feel good.
Our pets are vessels of love, joy, healing which they offer to us unconditionally. It only made sense that Toby would be among the first images for this month.
This is a pre-watercolor inked version with the process below. The watercolor is at the bottom. I have that picture sitting on the mantle where I will analyze it for the next week. <grin> Anyone else do that? I know I need to add his white whiskers, but I may want to work on some of the paint values and tweak them before it is finished.
A project has been selected (a theme), my nieces are prepared and zoom meetings scheduled, content has been collected! I am ready!
In the meantime, I have already started playing around with some of the content and watercoloring it. I may do a different image of the flamingos for October. Let us hope I can keep on task – I keep getting sidetracked into watercolors as I choose my images.
Flexing My Wings 