Thundering & Texas Blanket Flower

(click to enlarge)

THUNDERING
Oil on Panel 4" x 6"

'nuff said

(available $100 unframed - email me and let me know you want it.)

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(click to enlarge)

Texas Blanket Flower

3" x 3" viewable area
7" x 7" frame

(available $100 Framed! - email me and let me know you want it.)

This is a small, striking painting of a Texas Blanket Flower. I'm not sure why they are called that, possibly because they blanket the landscape with a beautiful orangey red. They are everywhere in the spring, along the sides of the roads and in the fields. They are just about at the end of their blooming period for the year around here, so I wanted to catch one before they were gone. I painted this from life - a bouquet that my husband and I stopped and picked off the side of the road. This little gem makes a bold statement in a small area.

I bought a bunch of small frames from a frame shop that was going out of business. I am trying to paint in some of the sizes of really neat frames that I have. I like the impact of this little flower in the big frame :)

As usual, thanks so much for your interest in my artwork and your many letters and comments! I will answer them all (eventually) and really enjoy you!

Keep on' creatin'!

Liz

Reina - German Shepherd SAR

Reina
German Shepherd
KlaasKids Foundation
4"x6"
Oil on Panel

From her owner:

"She is a German Shepherd, 5.5 years old and just a pleasure to have around. She was strictly a family dog until I received her from a friend. She's been doing SAR ever since. - she's trained for human remains detection. We are volunteers with the KlaasKIDS Foundation."


The KlaasKids Foundation believes that we can go far toward fulfilling our mission by distilling the best knowledge and information through a societal approach that extends from the President’s Cabinet Table to the family’s kitchen table. We can win the war for our children’s future by acknowledging that crimes against children deserve a high priority on our national and personal agenda’s. Then, by forming and promoting partnerships with concerned citizens, the private sector, organizations, law enforcement and legislators we take responsibility to become part of the solution to fighting crime and we can take pride in pro-active accomplishments.

This is a special painting, not only is Reina a Search & Rescue dog, but her owner is active in the U.S. Air Force.

Thank you for viewing my artwork. I will have a lot to show you over the next few months :)

Bria - English Labrador Retriever SAR

Bria
English Black Labrador retriever Search & Rescue Dog with DAWGS
4"x6" Oil on Panel

From her owner, Jennifer:

Bria is a four year old English Black Labrador retriever who has been training for search and rescue since 2005, first with my husband Matt and for the past year, with me. Having recently become a certified Field Assistant myself, my goal is to be a dog and handler team able to work in the field together by the end of 2008.

Bria has been called a natural and is so incredibly focused and in her element while she is working that just watching her makes me beam with pride. I’ve told my teammates time and again that only hope I can be as good of a handler as she is a search dog. While Bria is not working, she is seeking as well as giving love and attention to everyone around her and will occasionally romp and play with her fellow dog teammates, that is if there’s nothing available for snacking.

Disaster and Wilderness Ground Searchers (DAWGS) is a volunteer search unit 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. Formed in 1997 and operational in the spring of 1998, their primary search area is the state of Connecticut, although they are willing to assist disaster relief efforts and lost person searches wherever they are needed."

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In this painting of Bria, I was trying to portray what her handler calls her personality of "calm, sweet and peaceful with a gentle soul". Remember, these are just small, quick ol sketches, not full portraits. Because it was late, this photo was taken with a flash, and I will try to get a better photo up soon, she really isn't quite so blue in the actual painting.

Thank you, Jennifer, Bria and all the other handlers & dogs out there that dedicate so much 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.

Magic Horse & It's Hot!

Today's Painting

(click to enlarge)

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.