Bano - K9 with Portland Police Dept.

BANO - Donated K9 Portrait

4"x6" Oil on Panel

Portland Police Bureau

From his partner:

Bano is a German Shepherd trained to trail and alert on fresh human scent. We have worked together about 7 years and he is currently 8 1/2 years old. He is a powerful and sweet dog who really enjoys work. Throughout our time together, he has apprehended approximately 180 "bad guys." Bano has also located multiple articles such as firearms, knives, drugs, ETC. during his course of duties.

Thank you Officer Elias and Bano for all you do to keep us safe :)

If you are a member of K9 or Mounted patrols, please send me a photo of your animal so that I can donate a portrait to your Department. I also donate paintings to Search & Rescue handlers & Military dogs. There is absolutely no charge, so get in touch with me, or forward this to someone you know who would like a painting.

---

Today, I received an interesting email from Jasmine Murray asking questions about my work. I thought I'd post them here.

The problem is that I truly love all kinds of art and all kinds of painting mediums, so most of my answers are pretty generic. I did go through and pick out a few examples, though, do I get points for that?

Here are the questions from the email:

What media do you like to use the best and why?

I have painted in just about all media at some time or another. I love them all, they are like people, each with their strong points and drawbacks. I love anything creative! Besides fine art, I make artisan jewelry & stained glass (WackyPup on Etsy) recently got a kiln so I can try my hand at some small sculptures, quilting, woodworking and even a vinyl cutter. Obviously hard for me to narrow down my choices for being creative :)

I don't use watercolor very often, but I love the way that the colors intermingle with each other of their own accord. This is the only medium that does this, and it's beautiful. Unfortunately, because of this, things don't always go the way you planned. Watercolor is the least forgiving medium.

English Bulldog in Watercolor - NFS - Privately Commissioned Portrait

Pastels are strong and bright and offer immediate gratification, but they're more difficult to frame, and more fragile if you leave them laying around :)

Tiger in Pastel - Ruby @ Roanoke, VA Zoo

Portrait in Pastel - NFS - Private Commission

Quick Plein Air Pastel Study - 5x7 or so - if you'd like to add it to your collection it's yours for $50

Occasionally, I use gouache, mostly when I travel. It is more durable and less variable than watercolor, and easier to travel with than oils. Some of my absolute favorite paintings are gouache.

Little China Doll

4" x 5.5"
Gouache on Illus Board
Sold

Orange Spice Tea

6" x 4" Gouache on Paper

Sold - Private Collection

I like acrylic, and I like the bright paintings that I create with them, but I'm terribly allergic to them, so I don't use them very often. Which is too bad because Chroma acrylics was going to sponsor my site, but I can't use their wonderful paints without being very careful.

Texas Spring

4" x 6" Acrylic on Panel

$100

This painting is unframed. If you would like it framed in a nice gold easel back frame, let me know and I will add it to your order for $25.

I guess my favorite medium is oil, mostly because it's totally forgiving. If things aren't going your way, you can just keep going until it submits LOL. Or even wipe it down completely and start over. Most of my portraits and paintings these days are in oils. It's also easy to frame. The drawback is that they're more expensive, and harder to travel with.

Bird on the Table

4" x 6" ~ Original Oil on Panel ~$100

What aspects of nature are your favourite to draw?

Faces without a doubt. I love faces of people and animals. There is so much in a face, memories, dreams, past experience, or hope for the future.

In landscape, the most interesting thing to me is shadows, especially the way tree shadows fall onto buildings.

Do you incorporate different media together in your work?

I don't do many mixed media pieces. Sometimes I underpaint in acrylic because it dries quickly, but usually, I like everything to run together and soften up a bit.

Where's your favourite place to create your artwork?

Hmm, I love camping, but I don't do much painting when I'm there. If I could make myself get out of the kayak and actually open up my art supply bag, I think I'd love it. At this point, most of my paintings are done in my beautiful (messy) studio that has just had two large skylights installed. My studio also has a small kiln, a bunch of clay, tons of stained glass, and oh yes, canvases, oils, watercolors, acrylics, pastels, panels, easels and my desk & files. Yup, it's a mess, and FULL!

Oddly enough, green is not one of my favorite colors, but going over paintings to see what to include in this post made me realize, I paint a lot of green!

Now, I must get off this computer and get some real creative work done! I'm working on Christmas quilts (plus a few portrait commissions)

Don't forget to LIVE CREATIVELY!

Liz

Please become a fan of my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Liz-van-der-Werff/136309593758

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

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