A great surprise for a Sunday morning – I was featured in a blog post by Dawn Diovera of Horse and Man. She and her family visited my studio at the Ashland Art Center while they were in Southern Oregon on vacation – and they also visited Sanctuary One! Here is the direct link to that blog http://horseandman.com/?p=18292
This is my most recent commission & memorial painting celebrating Casey and Rosie – mother and daughter Westies. It is my first painting featuring two dogs and unlike most of my other commissions, it also has a bit of a landscape in it. I like how Rosie’s muzzle hair is blowing up from the wind, and Casey’s tongue hanging out is pretty cute.
Boo is my second Labradoodle portrait this summer. I love all of her hair! Boo is from Philadelphia and I donated this commission to the annual Peter’s Place fundraiser. Peter’s Place provides support to children/families who lose a parent.
Just a few minor tweaks to my website and it will be finished! Finally, my gallery is up-to-date – well, except for a few very recently completed paintings. I’m just trying to decide which images to use for the Cat and Other Animal Galleries on the home page (I am currently thinking Ellie’s Cat and Peeking Pekin – as the primary background colors there now are distracting me). Also new – my posts to the News section now feed to my artist Facebook page!
This recently completed painting is a late birthday present to my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. Finally, Monk is finished & at his new home!
I’m moving into a new studio space upstairs at the Ashland Art Center (next to Village Shoes) – Studio 3B, which I am sharing with Laura Lawrence! I will still be painting from my home studio, but will split my time between the two locations. The new space is slowly getting there – it only took me 3 hours to install the track lights in the unbelievably thick ceilings using huge anchor bolts. Today another artist told me it would have been fine with just the plastic drywall bolts – oh, well – people can probably hang from my track lights and they won’t come down….My inventory is slowly making its way upstairs as well, and starting next week, I will have regular “art creation” hours at the art center on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons – working on various paintings, of animals of course! I will also be participating in Ashland’s First Friday events more consistently now that I have a studio at the art center. If you are in the area, stop in and see me.
I will be painting at the Ashland Art Center (upstairs) this Friday from 5-8PM during Art Walk. Come upstairs and say hello! I will be working on a painting Tucker, of one of my own dogs. Many artists will be doing demonstrations of their work that evening – it’s always a fun event! And, thanks to those of you who voted in the Mutt Lynch/Dog Art Today wine label competition – unfortunately, I didn’t make the top 10 this year – but, there’s always next year!
There are over 100 entries (paintings, drawings, collage and digitally enhanced photography) featuring “naughty” dogs – my entry is #35 (Hi
dden Agenda) – a painting of my Brussels Griffon, Oscar, who is always a bit ornery and naughty, but never the slightest bit remorseful – luckily he is very cute! Voting began on Monday and ends on May 21st. There is one vote per computer. The top ten entries will be considered for a special release wine label – the winemaker, label designer and Dog Art Today writer will select the winner. Mutt Lynch Winery is known for their dog themed labels and wine names, as well as their donations to dog charities and rescue groups.
Here is the link to vote: www.dogarttoday.com
This is Olivia, my 
most recent commission. Olivia’s mom is on the board for the Southern Oregon Humane Society, and this painting will be shown as an example of my silent auction donation at A Toast for Tails on May 14th. With this commission, I made it a point to take photographs of the painting as it progressed. The first photo is the actual photograph I worked from. The next, is the image of Olivia drawn out onto the canvas. I grid out the proportions and draw her in, checking the final drawing using a proportional divider, just to make sure the proportions are all correct. Then, I erase the grid lines and spray the canvas with fixative. The third photo is my first pass at getting the canvas covered with paint. I don’t like the way paint slides around on the newly fixed canvas, so I just focus on the dog’s eyes and getting the colors approximately correct with the rest of the painting. I also try to make the eyes and nose more visible than in the original photograph since you can barely see them. Then I let the paint dry. The next step is getting more of the darks in correctly and rechecking the proportions, as often it seems that the features tend to expand in size as I paint. I also adjusted the background color a bit to make it more “plummy”. The last photo is the finished painting – with all the highlights added, and other minor adjustments made to the painting – Olivia is such a cutie 🙂
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