Nina & Julio: October 13, 2009

"Nina & Julio" is a 5"x7" oil painting on stretched canvas. This was a fun one to paint because there is more of a sense of place compared to a lot of my pet portraits.

Homeslice (finished): October 12, 2009

"Homeslice" is finished (pending client's approval, of course). This is an 8"x10" oil painting on stretched canvas.

Just for fun, I am showing the reference photo from which I painted "Homeslice".

Homeslice (nearly complete): October 10, 2009

"Homeslice" is near completion. He needs his whiskers and a little more touching up and then he'll be ready to hang.

Homeslice (in progress): October 9, 2009

Homeslice's haunches have been painted in along with the lower portion of his front legs.

Homeslice (in progress): October 7, 2009

This is the beginning of "Homeslice", an 8"x10" oil painting.

Pansy: August 18, 2009

"Pansy" is a 5"x7" acrylic painting on 140 lb. watercolor paper. She has a smile now.

Pansy (in progress): August 16, 2009

"Pansy" is still in progress. She looks a little sad and she needs some adjustments to her body.

Pansy (in progress): August 14, 2009

"Pansy" is in progress.

Tana (3): August 13, 2009

"Tana (3)" is a 2.5"x3.5" acrylic painting on 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Tana (2): August 12, 2009

"Tana (2)" is a 2.5"x3.5" acrylic painting on 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Tana: August, 9, 2009

"Tana" is a 2.5"x3.5" commissioned acrylic painting on 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Acrylic background: July 30, 2009

Here is the background for my next acrylic painting which is 12"x24". I got this look by painting the background black and brown. After that dried, I used a sea sponge to dab on a mixture of colors: greens, grays, browns, off-white. I sprayed water on it to allow the colors to mix. You have to be very patient and not disturb the paint as it dries. Let it do its thing and this is what you get.

Dying continued: July 24-25, 2009

These silk scarves are almost finished. All that is left is to take them to the dry cleaner to remove the gutta resist. If I do more dying in the future, I think I will try other types of resist that don't require dry cleaning to remove them.

After the gutta dried overnight, I applied a couple layers of dyes. I scrunched up the fabrics, dabbed the fabrics into dye and sprayed with a water bottle to distribute the colors. Using two complimentary shades and randomly distributing the colors gave the silk interest and visual texture.

Once the background was dried, I stretched the silk and painted leaves using the dyes and a brush. The gutta left negative leaf shapes and the painted dye made positive leaf shapes as you can see in the close-up photos.

Dying to Learn Something New: July 23, 2009

I was cleaning out closets the other day and came across this tie-dyed t-shirt. My son loves wild colors including tie-dye but this shirt was just not bright enough for him. I got out some dyes and set to work to brighten up the colors in the t-shirt. You can see the before and after results.

While I had the dyes out, I thought maybe I should try my hand at dying a couple of silk scarves. My mom is a quilter and dyes her own fabrics so I borrowed supplies from her. I dampened my two scarves and dabbed dye on them, one with green and blue, one with purple and blue. I wanted this layer to be light in color. After this pastel layer dried, I added a clear gutta resist by outlining leaves from my yard. This leaf outline should retain the pastel color as I add the next layer of color.

In the images here, you can see the pastel colors of the first layer. The close-ups show faint outlines of the gutta resist.

House Numbers: July 20, 2009

These are some house numbers that I painted with acrylic on wood cutouts.

Trinket (finished): July 10, 2009

"Trinket" is complete. This is a 5"x7" acrylic painting on 140 lb. watercolor paper. Trinket is a very bashful little Yorkie and, oh, so cute!

Trinket (in progress): July 9, 2009

I've finished Trinket's body and legs and put in the background layer of color for her face.

Trinket (in progress): July 8, 2009

"Tinket" is the third Yorkie in this set, a work in progress.

Cookie (finished): July 7, 2009

"Cookie" is complete. This is a 5"x7" acrylic painting on 140 lb. watercolor paper. Cookie is an adorable little Yorkie who has a pet parrot who calls to her, "Here, Cookie, Cookie!" So cute!

Cookie (in progress): July 6, 2009

Cookie's body is done. Her head looks awful strange at this stage of the painting.

Cookie (progress): July 3, 2009

"Cookie" is in progress, the second of three new Yorkie paintings.

Sweetie: July 3, 2009

"Sweetie" is the first of three new commissioned Yorkie paintings. She is painted in acrylic on 5"x7" 140 lb. watercolor paper.

By the Bitterroot (finished): June 29, 2009

After looking at this for a week and after consulting with my client, I made some adjustments, most of which were fairly minor. The most obvious change was to the shadow-side of his face. The dark shadows have been lightened in places and the reflected light has been darkened. "By the Bitterroot" is 11"x14" acrylic on stretched canvas.

By the Bitterroot (progress): June 12, 2009

"By the Bitterroot" is nearly complete. Even when I think I'm done, I can always find something else to adjust. After photographing the painting and putting it on the computer, I can see that his chin needs more definition.

It's been a real struggle to paint the last couple of days because the air is so dry here, especially in the afternoon. My paint has been drying out and crusting over really fast so I have to keep mixing new batches. At times, it even dries out before I get the paint from palette to canvas. I'm hoping it will rain later this evening to replenish some of the moisture and I will get back to painting tomorrow.

By the Bitterroot (progress): June 11, 2009

She has been completed and some of his face color has been applied.

By the Bitterroot (in progress): June 10, 2009

This is progressing along. His hat and eyes have been put in and a large portion of her face has been laid in.

By the Bitterroot (in progress): June 9, 2009

I redid the yellow shirt and progressed to the red shirt and man's hand.

By the Bitterroot (in progress): June 8, 2009

The background is complete, unless, of course, I see something that needs changing later. And I have started working on the yellow shirt.

By the Bitterroot (progress): June 6, 2009

"By the Bitterroot" is a commissioned painting of a couple by the Bitterroot River in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana. It is being painted in acrylic on 11"x14" stretched canvas. This is just the beginning - a work in progress.

Grizelda & Lola: June 4, 2009

Whoa! Two in one day! It's amazing what you can accomplish when the pressure is on!

"Lola" is a 4"x6" acrylic painting on 140 lb. watercolor paper.




"Grizelda" is a 2.5"x3.5" acrylic ACEO on 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Joe: June 1, 2009

Graduation is over and I'm back to painting "real" paintings. This is "Joe", a 5"x7" acrylic painting on 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Add-on to MF's Graduation Cap: May 30, 2009

Graduation is tomorrow. This was a last minute addition to jazz up MF's cap. It was a little too plain before. I like it better with the soccer balls.

ED's Graduation Cap: May 25, 2009

E.D. is another soccer player. His cap has the red bull logo with a soccer ball and the Juventus ("the most successful team in the history of Italian football") logo.

Two Grad Caps in one Day: May 21, 2009

Two caps were completed today. The high school's colors are gold and black. The girls are wearing gold and the boys are wearing black this year.

BH's Graduation Cap: May 20, 2009

BH's cap is complete.

MG's Graduation Cap (finished): May19, 2009

MG's cap is finished using Golden fluid acrylic paints.

MG's Graduation Cap (progress): May 18, 2009

"MG" is one of my son's graduating classmates. This is his graduation cap in progress. He is a fantastic soccer goalie and obviously a fan of professional Pittsburgh, PA, sports teams.

Graduation Caps: May 13-14, 2009

I went on vacation to Florida for a couple of weeks and now I have quite a few paint jobs to catch up on. I took lots of reference photos that I hope to turn into paintings some time in the future.

My son is graduating high school in a couple of weeks. I painted his graduation cap using white and gold Golden fluid acrylic. The cap is black so wherever you see black, it is the fabric. No black paint was used. His school colors are gold and black, he is a soccer player whose jersey number is "8", and his mascot is the "Fighting Yellowjackets".

I began painting yesterday (the left photo). The first layer of white makes the balls look like a lunar surface. It took 3 coats of white and 2 coats of gold to cover the black fabric. The finished cap is on the right.

Charlie: April 21, 2009

"Charlie" is a 5"x7" acrylic painting on 140 lb. watercolor paper.