Magic Horse & It's Hot!

Today's Painting

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Magic - Arabian Mare
Burleson , TX
Oil on Panel 4" x 6"
NFS

This is a painting of one of my daughter-in-law's horses. You'll be seeing quite a few horse paintings in the next couple weeks.

I have some really exciting news! I have been asked to participate in a large, beautiful mural painting. You may have seen some of the previous murals that have been created. If not, click here to see them, they're really neat. They appear to be large paintings, but are actually mosaics of hundreds of smaller paintings put together to create a larger painting.

I will be a participating artist in the Equine Mural

I'll be posting the steps as it goes along. The way it works is that they send me a panel to paint. The panel has the dark/light composition shown. I have to come up with a painting that uses the basic composition, but is an independent painting in its own right. Then it will be combined with hundreds of other paintings to create one giant mural.

I will post pictures of the panels and the ideas that I come up with here and in my blog. Be sure to sign up for the email list in the column on the right so that you don't miss a single painting!

So, now you understand why I will be doing some horse paintings to get warmed up for the mural :)

BONUS DAILY PAINTING:

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Watch Out - It's Hot!
Oil on rough panel
9" x 9"

You may recognize this from a previous daily painting.

I started daily painting so that instead of trying to get each painting 'perfect' and spending days on it, I would create a painting, learn from it, and apply my knowledge to the NEXT painting, instead of improving the existing painting. Although I strive to do this, I am just not capapble of leaving things alone if they bother me.

The cup originally seemed to be falling, but was empty - now where's the drama there?

Since this was painted entirely from my imagination, I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I like the coloring and the feel of almost spilling my coffee, which is a daily occurrence for me LOL.

So I have touched-up, improved, repainted and otherwise messed around with some of my old daily paintings. I'm almost happy with this cup . . . . . if you like it, it can be yours for $100.

The painting is signed, but the website copyright appears only on the internet.

As always, thank you for letting me come into your home or office every day, and for giving me the encouragement to create! Please forward this to anyone you think is interested, and I always love to hear from you!

- Liz

Bear's Story

Bear gets to be Painting of the Day for 2 days. I just got his information and it is wonderful and I want to make sure you appreciate this fine fellow

Bear
German Shepherd
Police Service Dog - Dallas, TX
Oil on Panel 4" x 6"

Bear was born in October 2005, in the Czech Republic. He came to the Dallas Police Department in November 2006. Bear finished his training in May 2007. In less then a year, Bear has located two lost children, apprehended two burglars, a car-jacker, and a suspect wanted for murder.

Thank you to Bear and his partner Sr. Corp Nails.

Bluebird Moon & K9 Bear

Bluebird Moon

Bluebird Moon
8" x 10"
Oil on Panel
$200

My son suggested that name :)

Here is the photo of the finished painting. I just love it, but I might not be in possession of it much longer, a couple people are interested in it, but I'm waiting for an answer from the first to request it.

The other painting today, is a K-9 officer (?) I'm not sure what you call them.

This is Bear, a Police Dog with Dallas Police Department

Bear
German Shepherd
K-9 Officer - Dallas, TX
Oil on Panel 4" x 6"

His partner got in touch with me to do a FREE oil portrait - I think it turned out great - Bear is sure a handsome guy!

Thanks again for your interest in my artwork. I had over 800 people on my list until I moved it to Google . . . . I'm slowly trying to build it back up - you can help me out by forwarding this to anyone you think might be interested.

Thanks!

Bluebird Turns His Back

Bluebird Turns His Back

8" x 10" Oil on Panel

(available $200 - click here)

Ok, the internet just does not do justice to this painting - I am so happy with this one! In real life, it is like trompe l'oeil - he looks so real, you think you can pick him up. I was not even going to paint today, the day had gotten away from me (again) and you know there's always tomorrow. Then I found out I would be out of my studio all day tomorrow, and thought, well, I'd better do SOMETHING - for one thing I have a complicated commission that I am working on. So after putting in a few hours on it, I decided to do a quick 'daily' painting. Instead of picking up my usual 4" x 6" board, I thought I'd paint my favorite glass bluebird in a little larger scale. I'm so glad I did - I love this painting. I really wish you could see what it looks like in person.

Here's a little better closeup - but still not so good. For one thing I am always taking my photos late at night. But I'm too impatient to wait until the daylight to do it. I just noticed that horizontal slash in the upper right, I'll be right back. . . . . .there, that's fixed. I also softened the shadow a bit. I am NOT going to take and format new photos tonight though. Maybe Saturday.

Tool #2 - Mixer & Dog of the Day - JB the Scottie

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Tool #2 Mixer
10"x10"
Oil on Panel

(available $200 - click here)

I am really happy with this painting. It was a challenge to get the reflections in the bowl, and of course, I made the color pop quite a bit more than it did in real life. The part that I didn't like was the mixer body, because it is a flat blue color. Fortunately, there are enough reflections in it to add some depth. I have used this mixer for 20 years, and it's a bit scratched and not as shiny as it used to be. I think it makes a great center of interest for my still life :)

Not sure if I'm going to leave the background that color, I think I'd like it better if it was bright orange - the complement of blue. In these 'fun' paintings, I like to do things a bit more dramatically than I do in my commissioned work.

Technical note - when I paint the 4"x 6" paintings, I prepare the masonite panel by sanding, priming, sanding, gessoing, sanding and then painting with a couple coats of shellac. This makes a very slick finish that allows me to manipulate the paints immediately. The painting today was done on a plywood panel that had been primed and gessoed. Gesso is very very matte finish. The paint does not glide, it sticks like glue and gets sucked in . . . it was horrible!! I took my remaining 10"x10" panels and coated them with about 3 layers of shellac tonight, so the next one I paint won't be so frustrating!

It's so nice to be back painting and productive again. Hope you're enjoying the artwork!

Today's Dog Painting

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JB

Scottish Terrier
4"x6"
Oil on Panel

I have a collector who has been commissioning paintings from me for years - just about from the time I started. He has one of my first paintings, and I'd really like to get it back and fix it up LOL. I painted this as a gift to him. It is one of his many Scotties that he has rescued and takes such extensive care of. I hope I come back reincarnated as one of his dogs! He does so much for the dogs, he deserves this!

The painting is signed, but the website copyright appears only on the internet.

Barley - Chocolate Lab Search & Rescue Dog

Barley - a Search & Rescue Dog with Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs

From her owner, Andre' - "Lady "Barley" Blue and I are active members of Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs.

"RMRD is an all volunteer, non-profit canine search and rescue organization based in Salt Lake City, Utah. We currently have approximately 30 dog/handler teams and we respond to searches in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada and Arizona and had four dog teams respond to ground zero following 9/11. More about our organization can be found at rockymountainrescuedogs.net

"My dog, Barley, is a seven year old chocolate lab who has known nothing but search work since she was born. We have been with the team since January of 2002 and we have responded to many searches and spent countless hours of training in avalanche SAR, water SAR, wilderness SAR, collapsed structure SAR and tracking skills."

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The shadow in this painting created a composition that is bold and colorful and I really enjoyed painting it. Her eyes are not really evil glowing orbs like they appear in the photo - I really have got to take better photos!

If you are a member of Search & Rescue, K-9 or Mounted Patrol, please allow me to paint a small portrait for you at no charge, in gratitude for your service.

Tucker - Chocolate Lab SAR Dog

Tucker
Search & Rescue Dog with DAWGS

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From Marianne, his handler:

Tucker is a 2 year old chocolate lab. He is originally from Corry, PA where I picked him up at 8 weeks old. He became involved in search & rescue at 4 months and has loved it ever since. Tucker's favorite things to do is swim, hike, play tug-of-war, fetch tennis balls, and destroy stuffed toys. He is a quick learner, strives to please and gets along with everyone. We do just about everything together and is adored by everyone that meets him.

Disaster and Wilderness Ground Searchers (DAWGS) is a Connecticut based volunteer K-9 search and rescue organization. DAWGS is dedicated to the training of search and rescue dogs, handlers and support personnel in order to provide professional and highly-skilled search and rescue teams in the event of emergency response events.

Thank you, Marianne & Tucker for your dedication of time and money to save us from harm.

If you are a member of Search & Rescue, K-9 or Mounted Patrol, please allow me to paint a small portrait for you at no charge, in gratitude for your service.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEND ME AN EMAIL FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PROJECT

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Now, on the art side of things - I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this painting! This is hopefully the beginning of a trend LOL . . . I've had some really successful paintings lately. I don't know what exactly I love about this painting, it's just the look I've been going for with my art. It wasn't a particularly easy painting, some just fly off the brush (like Spiffy) but most are like this one - some success and then a lot of struggle (in this case the colors on his face were tough to get) At least at the end of the day, I'm happy with the painting :) It, of course, looks tremendously better in person, the colors just don't come across on the internet.

. . . I should have asked Marianne to explain the bell he is wearing. I assume it is so that they know where he is when he is searching. Or maybe he just likes to pretend he's a cow :)
The painting is signed, but the website copyright appears only on the internet. Your replies are appreciated :)