Library Cat FINISHED

Library Cat
memorial portrait of Max
Oil on Canvas
14" x 18"

Max's portrait is finished - and looking great! This is, unfortunately, a memorial portrait, which is why there is a painting of a rainbow on the back wall. Please make sure you click on the photos to see the enlargements. I'll try to remember the various adjustments I made.

Close-up of Max's face

I added light to the underside of the lamp, and straightened the base a bit. I made adjustments to the position of his paws and added a fancy quill pen to go with the jar of ink on the desk in front of him. Maybe he's writing his memoirs.
Close-up of the adorable little mouse peeking out from under the book. I changed the left side of the book because it was too square for a bunch of pages.

Hope you had fun following along on the creation of this portrait!

Live Creatively!

Liz

Library Cat . .. almost finished!

Very long and productive day today! The portrait is looking great! I am so happy with it! I hope that I can get a good photo of it tomorrow. You really can't get a very good idea of what it looks like from these photos.

I put a smoking jacket and ascot on Max and got just about all the books painted. I left an open space for the little mouse that will be peeking out from under the book on the left. Max's face is just about finished now, just need to add some whiskers. I brightened up the light, and fixed the perspective on the green book in the front. I may add some titles to a few of them, but I'm not sure yet.

Let me know if you have any good ideas for books, "Mice and Men" or "Cat's Guide to Life" LOL . . .

More soon!

Live Creatively!

Liz

Library Cat part 6

Ah, now the fun starts! I've gotten a good start on the cat's face. Below is the photo that I am using for reference.


The biggest challenge will be to change the lighting from a frontal light to a light coming from the right. You can see that there are shadows on the right side of the photo. They won't be there if the lamp is on that side, so I'm going to have to make a lot of adjustment to the portrait to create the feeling that the lamp is lighting him. . . . more soon!

Live Creatively!

Liz

Library Cat part 5

Library Cat - next step

The lamp and the frame have been completed. In the photo below you can see a better view of the lamp and the books behind the desk. The photo is brighter than the actual painting, but it allows you to see some of the detailing in the books.

It's really coming along nicely!

Live Creatively!

Liz

Library Cat part 4

The Library Cat is back on the easel - got the books in the background painted for the most part. Probably a few more touches as the painting progresses, but they're looking good. The painting did not photograph well, there is more detail than you can see in the photo, but I'm trying to keep it dark.

At this point, the cat reminds me of Felix the cat - I have cut the background into his head so his eyes appear too large, and his head too small. I'll fix that when I paint his head in the next few days.


The glowing rectangle to the left behind the cat became a picture frame. It will hold a 'painting' of a rainbow. I added it after I took the first photo, so it's not in the large photo.

The large dark area to the right of the cat will become the lamp. It was pointed out to me that the lamp was far too small, (or the cat far too large) - and they were right! So the lamp will be much larger than the original sketch. I get involved in planning, and sometimes overlook the obvious (like proportion).

More soon! Live Creatively!!

Liz

Library Cat part 3

Now I've got the cat just about where I want him. I have spent FAR too long playing with this. I don't usually put this much detail into the preliminary underpainting. We've decided to put him into a smoking jacket, so I took some time googling for images. There are some very natty jackets :) I'm not sure how patterned I will make it, the painting is very busy already. The next step is actual PAINT and that's when the fun starts!

Live Creatively!

Liz

Cat in the Library on the Easel

Now there's a convoluted description. I've been working on the cat in the library painting. I really like the design, I just have to be careful not to make it too bright. My paintings are generally bright and colorful, so it's going to be difficult to keep it dark and moody. I spent far too long futzing with the books and design, but it was fun. Kind of like making a puzzle. I thought I might have made the right hand side of the painting too cluttered, but I think I can change the emphasis with lighting and coloration.

Next I'll put the cat's face in. I don't usually go through this much preliminary work, but I don't really have any reference for this painting, it's just coming out of my imagination, so I want to make sure that I get all the potential problem areas resolved before I start putting too much paint down.

Live Creatively!

Liz

New Anthropomorphic Painting

I thought I'd bring you along on the journey from idea to finished painting. I had a patron contact me to create a memorial portrait of her cat, Max. She wanted a dark, period piece with him at a library table/desk since he loved to sit on books :)

I don't usually go through this much preparation for a painting, but this is a very elaborate portrait - and I want to make sure that I work out any possible conflicts before I get started.

The first step is to get a 'feel' for the commission. I did this with a color study of the basic idea. This is not set in stone, and I will make a lot of changes to it as I refine the ideas.

Color Study
Goauche on Paper
7" x 9"

After discussing the color study with her, I drew up a sketch incorporating some of the changes. A different lamp and chair, removing the wine bottle (he was not a drinker) . I thought it would be cute to ad a mouse among the books (at this point, he's just a vague reference on the lower left above the "A" in APortraitForYou.)

Pencil Sketch 7" x 9"

Probably the biggest change from the color study is removing the window. I thought that it would bring too much light into the room. I've replaced it with a painting of a rainbow hanging on the wall. For you artists out there, notice that I changed the arc of the rainbow. Can you tell why?

In the actual painting, the center of interest will be illuminated with light thrown from the lamp, and the background will be more subtle. Hard to portray in a quick pencil sketch. The other layout considerations are making sure that I leave a path to Max. I don't want to visually block the viewer from coming into the painting. The books are not a closed arrangement, but have an open area that leads you into the painting. I'm not sure, compositionally, about the books above Max's head. In the actual portrait, they will be blended into the background more, so I think it will be alright and not lead you out of the painting.

By Monday, I expect to be starting the actual portrait - come along, it's going to be fun!

Live Creatively,
Liz

Ringo and his Wife Bella . . . . Mastiff Masterpiece Finished!

Mastiff Masterpiece Finished!

18" x 24"
Oil on Canvas
Private Commission

Close-up of their faces.

I really wish you could see it in person. I am very happy with the way this turned out. Below you can see the inspiration piece for this portrait. There were about 15 different variations in color, but I bought a book on art and scanned in the photo. It is much more colorful than the painting that I have here, but I'm not going to bother to replace it.

Alfred Sisley and his Wife by Renoir

I made a few changes - the color of the gloves was changed from fawn to white because the male mastiff (Ringo) is fawn colored and you couldn't tell that he had a glove on one paw. I thinned down the tree in the background, just because I wanted to :)

Tomorrow I start another interesting portrait - another anthropomorphic painting - this time a cat in a library! I'll show you the initial sketches, color study and then take you along as I go. Also I have a couple daily paintings planned in my mind :) hopefully I'll get to them.

This painting ships out tomorrow - I'm sure going to miss it!!

Live Creatively!
Liz

Warming & Cooling . . . Chalky & Muddy . . . .

Just a quick post, I will be out of the studio today - I've been getting emails like this one:

Beautiful Liz. Regarding the temperature, can you give me an example....say if a color was a chalky dark green, what color would you use or if the color was a chalky light yellow, what would you use?

So, I thought I'd attempt to describe my method more fully. I'm not sure that it will help, hopefully it won't confuse everyone further, but here goes.

Whether you warm or cool your problem yellow area depends on whether it is a warm yellow (reddish - like cadmium) or a cool yellow (more toward green, usually looks lighter - like chrome yellow)

Same with green - does it go toward blue (pthalo) or more toward yellow (emerald, chromium oxide) By the way, always mix a little red into your greens that will make a more believable green. One of my favorite artists, Morgan Samuel Price always mixes up orange then adds blue/yellow to make it green. I have her VHS video series on painting landscapes & mixing color, I will be selling them, are you interested? It's a set of 5-7 videos, I want $75. One video has static, but you can still hear her. She has a whole tape dedicated to mixing greens.

In my non-portrait paintings, the lights are usually warm - the dark areas cool - so I would warm up the bright areas and cool down the darks

What is the main color of your object? That is the color you'll put most intensely along the edge of shadows in your painting. The rest of the object will be either lighter or darker. If you darken the shadows with blues/purples like I do (my favorite is dioxazine purple), then the color will turn warmer as it goes into the lighted area. If you darken the shadows with warm colors - cad reds/browns, the the color will become cooler as it turns to the light. I think this is unusual - the natural order of things is that objects become warmer as they become lighter. because light, being energy is warmer than shadow. Moonlight is probably an exception, but I haven't painted any moonlight paintings. Even Red can be cool - Alizarin is a cool red. I usually mix a bit into my red mixtures to cool down cad red which is ultra-hot.

I think the best way to figure out, especially in oils, if you're not sure is to take a little of the chalky color and divide it into 2 sections. These can be tiny amounts! Then add a bit of warm (cad yellow or cad red) to one, and a bit of cool (pthalo blue, chrome yellow, yellow ochre) I just looked on Gamblin and they consider yellow ochre to be 'warm' but I use it as cool, since it's a bit greenish to me (in my world.) Color temperature is very much dependent on what is around it. Try it on your painting and see if you like the result. You can always wipe it off :)

There's a chart by Gamblin that gives the temperature of all their paint colors. I hesitate to give it to you because as I said, temperature is RELATIVE to everything else on the painting. But it might give you some ideas of what to mix into your questionable color.

http://www.gamblincolors.com/navigating.color.space/color.temperature.color.html

Don't give up - I still take down my old paintings and 'tweak' them a bit. I just changed a few things on one of my bluebirds - I'll probably post it again sometime.

Oh, and so far, the verdict is that the new version is much better :)

Hope this helps.

Liz

Still Life on a Cardboard Box

Still Life on a Cardboard Box

Original Oil on Canvas
10" x 16"
$495

Or click here to email me about Dont Fall - Still Life.

Here's your chance to pick up a neat still life. The photos don't do it justice. You might remember this as one of the paintings I did in the workshop that I took earlier this year. I was NOT . .. . NOT NOT NOT happy with it originally. I decdided to take some time to work with it today and this is the result.

The vase and the plate are basically untouched, except for a few color points added (can't stand not having enough color!!) The shadow on the box was what attracted me to this layout in the first place. If I have to paint a still life, at least I want some drama in it :)

The pears and lime and everything else, in fact were COMPLETELY redone. I love it! I wish I was capable of getting a good photo so you could see all the detail and little notes of color throughout.

You can't really see it on the internet, but even the cardboard has a lot of colors in it. I added a fold of fabric to make sense of the shadow.

I was watching/listening to a Richard Schmid video while I painted, and he said something that is profound if you're an artist. He said that if you have a color that is either muddy (dark) or chalky (light) the problem is that it is the wrong temperature! If you're not an artist, it won't matter to you, but if you paint, let me tell you - this works wonders! Look at the temperature of the color that you think is muddy/chalky and change it to the opposite - you'll be amazed! You just add either warm or cool to it to change it, you don't have to remove it from the canvas.

This is one time that I wish I was painting live, you would really have enjoyed seeing the transformation of this painting.

The original version had kind of a silly putty color going on - I couldn't stand it! The first thing I did was change that drape to a beautiful carmine red. Then I set to work on making those pears and lime completely believable.

I had it completely repainted and still something just didn't sit right wtih me - I changed the background so that the red cloth draped over the box, instead of up the wall, and voila! I love it!

Hope you do too!

Live Creatively!

Liz

Relic #2 - Summers Past

Summers Past
Relic #2
6"x8"
Oil on Canvas
Framed to Match Relic #1
$275

Or click here to email me about Summers Past Relic #2 Doorknob.

As I was painting this, I thought of the many summers this doorknob saw, long before internet, dvds and video games. Kids running in for lemonade, adults sitting out on the porch to talk while teens eavesdropped by the side of the house. June bugs like this one flew and batted themselves against the screen door. The doorknob has survived for many, many years and the June bug only for a week or two.

This doorknob is a relic from a house that was destroyed by fire almost 100 years ago. The house is vaguely visible in the background of the painting.

On a more technical note, these two doorknob paintings were done from a still-life I set up on the final day of Qiang's workshop. I have had a few comments that the recent paintings are not my usual style. I'm not sure if I'll keep doing the 'dramatic' still lifes, I might try some with a more colorful background. - what's your opinion?

The previous Relic painting was from a photograph that I took of the doorknob before I left the studio. The set-up was a bit different which was evident in the differences in the shadows. I like this one where you can see the keyhole in the shadow.

We had only a few hours left before we would pack our paints and head to our homes. The assignment was to paint anything we wanted. Theresa had a bowl of old metal and pottery remnants from the home that preceeded the B&B. So, I left the studio and while everyone else was setting up pretty bowls, fruit & flowers (OH GOD NO MORE FLOWERS) I looked for something in her collection that was of more interest to me. On my way back to the group with my treasure, I found the June bug outside on the wooden steps by the kitchen door.

This painting is actually the one I painted from life at the workshop - but greatly improved. I had the light set up too close to my canvas, artificially increasing the visibility of the painting. After I finished original painting and removed the light, the painting lost all definition and became way too dark. It was also hampered by my attempting to paint using Qiang's technique of almost all grays and neutrals, and it turned out too colorless for me. If I could find a good photo of the 'before' I'd share it with you, but I don't seem to have one.

So, tonight, I lightened up the background and added a lot more color and definition and I really like the resulting painting. What do you think? (be sure to look at the larger version)

Live Creatively!

Liz

Relic #3 - August

Relic #3 August
6" x 8"
Oil on Canvas
$250

Or click here to email me about Relic #3 August.

The Iron Horse Inn, a bed & breakfast in Granbury, is built on the ruins of an older home that burned down. Theresa, the proprieter, often finds evidence of the old house and keeps them in a bowl. This is a doorknob that she found. Next to it is a (dead) June bug, which are ubiquitous in August, thus the name of the painting - August.

I've been working on the Mastiff Masterpiece, and am dying to show you, but every time I take a photo, I come back in and spend a half hour getting the photos ready and then realize I want to fix something, either on the setup for taking the photo (shadows, etc) or on the painting itself. After 3 long attempts, I have given up and will share Relic #1 with you instead.

Please become a fan of my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Liz-van-der-Werff/136309593758 and forward this to anyone you think would like my art!

Live Creatively!!

Mastiff Masterpiece continues!

It's really coming along - the photo does not do it justice, I have to stop taking photos at midnight! It's not finished yet - but I am EXTREMELY happy with it. I have to finish their pawas, work on the lace overlay on the dress, and add some notes of color throughout. Wish you could see it in person!

Live Creatively!

Liz

Mastiff Masterpiece on the Easel Again

A quick update on the progress of the Mastiff Masterpiece - it's really coming along. This is just preliminary work on the faces, I will of course, add more color and dimension as I go. I expect to have this commission finished this week, It's supposed to be shipped out next week. The dress is not completed yet, either. And obviously the background has a way to go. More soon!

Live creatively!
Liz

Donated Search & Rescue Portraits

Only time for a very quick note - a MASSIVE thunderstorm is moving in and I'm shutting down the computer -

I made a movie of some of the Search & Rescue paintings - please forward to anyone you think would like to see them. I need some new dogs to paint!



Please help me out by rating and sharing the video with as many people as you can. I need some new search & rescue dogs to paint!


Live Creatively!
Liz

Little China Doll

Little China Doll

4" x 5.5"
Gouache on Illus Board
NFS

This is a doll of my mother's that I played with when I was a child. She used to have a little paper umbrella that fit into her hand. This is probably my favorite painting from the trip - although I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the sentimental value to me :) It is now in my mother's collection. It has a white border around it, as the others, but I thought the photo looked best this way.

Thanks for looking! - add me as a friend on FaceBook and please share this page with anyone you think might like my work!

Live Creatively!
Liz

Old Brass

I should have taken a photo of the actual still life, so you could see that the brass is not shiny - it looks very much like this painting. Today's painting could be a small brass chocolate pot, or maybe it's just an old plant watering pot :) In any case, it's old.

Old Brass Whatchamacallit
6" x 4"
Gouache on Illus Board

If you know what this would be called - a pitcher? I'm not sure . . . let me know. I've only gotten one suggestion for the decoy painting :( Don't you have a name for it? The suggestion was "Congress" since they're a bunch of ducks that wake up in a new world every day . . . LOL . . . If you have another suggestion, let me know.

Thanks to everyone that writes me to comment about my paintings. I really appreciate it, and I always write back. Please forward this to anyone that you think would enjoy it. Ok, don't forward this one, forward one of the paintings I like LOL

Live Creatively!
Liz

Orange Spice Tea

This is one of my favorite paintings from my trip. My sister collects teapots - they're EVERYWHERE in her house. I thought I'd paint a quick study of one of them for her - It turned out nicely, if I do say so myself.

Orange Spice Tea
6" x 4" Gouache on Paper
NFS

My sister thought to take a photo of the setup that I painted. I cooled the color of the towel a bit, but tried to capture the warm orange of the teapot. I think I got it!

I like painting teapots - I'll be doing more soon!

Live Creatively!

Liz

Whew . . . . long trip :)

Long trip - finally home. Got in late, and I'm bushed, but thought I'd post one of the paintings
that I did while I was in North Carolina. No landscapes yet. This is a duck decoy from life - I posed it outside on a deck railing to get good light.

Decoy
about 4"x 6"
Gouache on Paper

I'm too tired to think of a good name for this - if you have any ideas send them to me!

This is my very first attempt to paint with gouache paints. I've had the set for years and never used it. I try to add to my collection of different paints, but don't always get around to trying them out. I'm really happy with gouache, it is a type of opaque watercolors. It covers well and dries fast! You can layer one color over another and it covers it up. Unlike acrylics, you can re-wet and blend it. It also 'bleeds' together like watercolors so you get some nice effects that way as well. I did a few more paintings with it on my trip. I'll be posting them over the next couple of days. In retrospect, I think I should have blended the shadow a bit more, but it was quite sharp in the morning sun. I painted this on the back deck of my husband's cousin's beautiful house in the crisp North Carolina morning . . . . . nothin' could be finer . . . :)

Live Creatively!
Liz

Mastiff Masterpiece Update

Just a quick note to show you the next step in the Mastiff Masterpiece.

Starting on the male's suit. Remember, this is just the beginning, there will be much more nuanced shadow, light & color work to come on all of it!

Live Creatively!
Liz

Mastiff Masterpiece on the Easel

This has been a hectic week - I'm leaving tomorrow for an Einstein vacation (it's all relative) my favorite kind - I had a rush commission for a repeat client and just finished it last night. I have a number of other commissions jostling for a place on the easel. I've been working on the Mastiff Masterpiece and have quite a bit done, but no photos ready to go except the very first one - so here is a look at the first step I took on the painting -

I refined the position of the female and got started on the skirt. It looks great, but even the skirt is a long way from finished :)

Be sure that you enlarge it -


Gotta get back to work -

Live Creatively!
Liz

Mastiff Commission Underway

Here's a peek at what's on the easel this week:


This will be a portrait of two mastiffs in watercolor. It's not finished yet, I haven't even touched the background. But since I haven't been posting, didn't want you to think I wasn't painting.

Live Creatively!
Liz

Gumby's NIghtmare Surreal Art

Tonight was interesting. Despite my solemn vow to myself that I was going to paint every day, 9:00 pm approached and I hadn't touched a brush all day. I was still exhausted from being so 'social' all weekend plus painting LOL. My son came by to pick up his dog whom we had been keeping for the weekend

My eldest son Jeremy painting

He and I decided to paint together. He paints abstracts and challenged me to paint a wall of eyes (he knows I love eyes, and resist painting abstracts)

Gumby's Nightmare
Acryilc on Panel
It really looks 3-d

Jeremy suggested the name. The wall looks like it's made of clay. We used the Chroma brand Acrylics, they are marvelous. I will be doing more with them as it goes along.

Here is the painting that Jeremy did. It's quite a bit different from his usual style, his style is evolving I suppose.

Shimmering Stones
Acrylic & Metallics
7 3/4" x 22"

I also tried to take a photo of the final painting that I did for the workshop on Sunday, but it did not photograph well enough to post. I will take a photo tomorrow and show you. I was too tired to post it yesterday.

Live Creatively!
Liz

Buster Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog with CARDA

Buster

Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog

CARDA - California Rescue Dog Association

4" x 6"
Oil on Canvas

This is a really bad photo. I'll get a better one soon and post it on the Portrait of a Hero website - http://www.PortraitOfAHero.com so check there in a week or so!

From his partner Lori:

"Buster is an 11 1/2 year old Louisiana Catahoula Leopard dog. Currently Certified as a volunteer Search and Rescue K9 with CARDA and the LA County Sheriff's Department. Buster has been involved in K9 SAR since 2000. He works as a scent specific Trailing dog. He has had "walk up finds" as well as providing clues and direction of travel to assist Law Enforcement in finding the missing

"He loves his "job" and you can't get into the truck fast enough when the pager goes off! Truly an inherent love to work. A very happy go luck boy. I am truly blessed to have such a great partner!."

______________________

Thank you Lori, Buster and your other dogs for all your work and dedication!

Tomorrow I'm off to my workshop - hopefully I'll have some new paintings for you when I get back. In my indubitable fashion, I haven't done a thing to prepare for this. I'll have to pull everything together in the morning :)

Live Creatively!
Liz

Waylon, Bloodhound Extraordinaire :)

Waylon
Bloodhound
South Carolina Police K9

Oil on Panel 4" x 6"

Unfortunately, this is a memorial painting :( I love bloodhounds, they have such fantastic faces. I didn't know Waylon, but he looks like a stoic dog.

From his partner: Sgt. Grant Huckabee:

Waylon was 13 years old and he served his entire life to public service.
I had to have him put to sleep in February.

------------------------------

My husband points out that the "POLICE" on the car is crooked, but I point out that it's a 4"x6" study that should focus on the dog. Who knows, I may end up going back and painting the "POLICE" part over :P . . . Personally, I like it and think it looks okay, what's your opinion?

I am getting ready for my workshop Friday - Sunday with Qiang Huang. It's going to be held at the Iron Horse Inn, a bed & breakfast in Granbury, Texas about an hour's drive from me. I won't be staying over, but the grounds are beautiful. Qiang does beautiful still lives, so I will be painting still lives this weekend. You'll have at least 3 to see before I get back to dogs :) I promise to show them, no matter how they turn out. LOL

Live Creatively!

Liz

Ali - A Fire & Rescue Dog

Ali
Fire Search & Rescue Dog
Lee County Fire and Rescue
South Carolina
4" x 6"
Oil on Panel

Ali is a youngster in this painting, not matured and filled-out.

From her partner Rev. Ryan Riley, Firefighter Lt. / Chaplain:

Ali was a a rescued dog and I had searched for a good German Shepherd for a while when I found a picture of her on line and I fell totally in love with her. When we met, I think the feeling was mutual and we had a tight bond. She trained every day and was hard to shut down. She always wanted to work and play. She has only 5 rescues to her list simply because of an early retirement due to health issues. She has searched tornado areas and even looked for a runaway Alzheimers patient. Her last assignment was with the Lee County Fire and Rescue in South Carolina. She is now with a family that needed a companion and very happy to be just that for them. I miss her a lot but know that God has a purpose for all of us…..even our dogs.

Thank you Rev. Riley and Ali. We appreciate all those who work so hard to keep us safe.

I got the bloodhound done today too, and if I can find his/her story & name, I'll post it tomorrow ;)

Live Creatively!

Liz

Bloodhound K9 & Canine Masterpiece

Bloodhound
whose name I can't find :)
Oil on Panel
4" x 6"

You may remember when I blocked in this painting MONTHS ago - it's finally gotten back on the easel and I've just about finished the dog portion of the painting. The background will be the police car, and that should be painted Monday. I really wish I had the video camera set up for this piece, there were quite a few 'learning opportunities' as I worked on getting the perspective right. These dogs have such amazing heads.

I should be doing some still lifes - I am scheduled to take a workshop from an artist whose still lives I admire greatly - Qiang Huang. I'm fortunate that he is located within a few hours of me. I'm really looking forward to his class and hopefully getting enthused about painting still lifes!

I've got some very interesting commissions going right now - another 'canine masterpiece' - this time interpreting a Renoir painting with Mastiffs. To whet your appetite, here is the painting that I will be adapting - Alfred Sisley and his Wife by Renoir.


I'll bring you along step by step as it progresses. It looks like it will be a lot of fun.

Live Creatively!

Liz

Sienna - Search & Rescue Dog Donation #21

Sienna
Golden Retriever
DAWGS

From her partner: My Golden Retriever Sienna was a search and rescue dog with Disaster and Wilderness Ground Searchers in CT. One of her best buddies in search was Jet, the black lab you painted.

During her career, she worked with a passion and joy even when cutting her foot open and tearing two ACLs. She started her career as an 8 week old puppy. On September 13 2008, I awoke to find her sleeping peacefully on her bed. She had died in her sleep. Sienna was 10 years old. My vet determined she died of hemiosarcoma which often has no symptoms until the dog dies.

Thank you Sienna for all you did :)

I've been busy working on some commissions, and I swear I'm going to get back into painting things other than dogs eventually :)

Live Creatively!

Liz

Uintah & Wahsatch & the Bluebird of Fair to Middlin'

Uintah & Wahsatch
Oil on Canvas
20" x 20"

Finally getting around to posting the final photo of the two golden retrievers - They have great names - they are named after the mountains in the area of Utah where they live. They are both search & rescue dogs. As usual it's not a very good photo, but I haven't posted in so long, I figured I'd put it up anyway.

My son and I participated in the Funky Finds Spring Fling art & craft show. My son's artwork can be seen here The show was a lot of fun. It was a 'dog-friendly' venue, so along with my husband, came Mackenzie the Wacky Pup.

Here is Mackenzie sitting under her portrait

My son brought Holley, his 100 lb German Shepherd / Rottie mix

and my sister came with Zora, her 130 lb German Shepherd / Yeti mix.

All the dogs were wearing their "Wacky Pup" bandana - Directions for making a bandanna for your dog, cat or even yourself are on WackyPup.com All those people and dogs in one 10' x 10' display area LOL . . . most people were not too intimidated to come in and look at the art. The majority of the shoppers had their own dogs, too. All in all, a lot of fun.

I took a couple photos of some dogs that I think will make good paintings, but I got very interested in babies in strollers. For one thing, the strollers are amazing looking now - some look like you could take them off-road - and if you put an engine on them, the whole family could ride LOL. But mostly I was interested because the babies are always either trying to get out, or sitting in funny positions.

Bluebird No. 5

The Bluebird of Fair to Middlin'
9" x 9"
Oil on Reclaimed Panel with painted sides
$225

Or click here to email me about Bluebird of Fair to Middlin.

This is one of a set of 6 kitchen paintings - contact me to see all 6

They are available as a group for $950 with free shipping.

I have been busy working on commissions, including a house portrait and another golden retriever portrait. Hopefully I will have some paintings to show after they have been presented to their surprise recipients.

Live Creatively!

Liz