Final Commission

I wanted to share my final commission with you even though I haven't posted here in quite some time.  I've decided to retire from painting pet portraits or other commission work and this gorgeous white German Shepherd Dog makes a lovely good-bye post.

I want to make it clear that I adore painting animals and pets in particular.  There's nothing more satisfying than knowing one of my paintings is paying tribute to someone's beloved pet.  But a series of events this past year has shown me that I need to change directions in my art.

The first clue I had was my husband retiring this past spring and wanting to do some traveling.  That was fine, one can work around various trips and travel plans, right?    I had a couple of commissions on the books as of the end of summer but neither client was in a big rush.  I was able to make a good start on one of the commissions but we couldn't get decent photos of this big guy until right before my husband & I left for an extended tour of areas way west of us.

When we returned, I quickly finished the one commission and got started on this one.  As it turned out though, I caught some kind of a flu bug and was in bed sick for nearly 3 weeks!  I couldn't paint even if I'd felt like it because I was coughing so much and so hard that any brush stroke went far off the mark!  I finally got to feeling well enough to paint again only to find that all that coughing had pulled some muscles and I couldn't walk!  Another week just laying around and all of a sudden, it's Thanksgiving!

I should have known I was being led (pushed?) in another direction especially when a series of events involving my mother in law again had us on the road.  To be honest, by this time I had completely lost my mojo and nothing was working for this portrait.  My client was incredibly patient and understanding which made me want to finish it even more than before.

Finally, I woke up at 2:30 in the morning a couple of weeks ago feeling the need to paint on this portrait & everything started clicking into place for it and I finished it yesterday with client approval this morning!

During January, I was also given the opportunity to display my art in a gallery in a beautiful town on our North Carolina coast called Beaufort.  The gallery is wonderful as is the gallery owner, Angie Williams, and if you're ever in Beaufort, you ought to stop in and see what all she has to offer.  The gallery is called the Artestry Hideaway and it's at 412 Front Street with the entrance from the boardwalk.  You can see some of the beautiful things by checking out her FaceBook page:  https://www.facebook.com/TheArtestryHideaway.

After losing my mojo for so long with a commission in the works, I realized I just couldn't continue to accept commissions any longer.  Plus the fact that both my husband's mother and my father are very elderly and live some distance from us means that we have to be able to go to them at a moment's notice.  It's just not fair to clients to have to wait while we work out family issues!

So, I'm giving up pet portrait commissions and will probably give up this blog.  I'm going to set up a new website and domain name and probably a new blog.  However, the blog may be a part of my new website.  Whatever I decide to do, I'll be sure to post it here before any major changes are made! 

Thanks to all of you who stuck with me all this time!

Painting Again

Since I have the internet tether set up and working and the Monster more or less finished, I've been trying to focus on painting again.

So far, I've finished the chihuahua pet portrait commission and am back working on the apple still-life. Both are in pastel pencils, a medium that I've not really used much at all and am not sure I like much. The chihuahua turned out ok - I haven't heard back from the person who commissioned it yet, but I think it looks like him. I'm just not especially thrilled with it but it was a learning experience.

On the other hand, I'm liking the way the apple still-life is coming along. I think the difference may be that the still-life has meaning for me and, while I really enjoy doing animal portraits, there's a different sort of attachment for the subject. Also, I think it's because the owners see a pet one way while the artist usually has only the reference photo(s) to go by. I remember one commission where the owner kept wanting me to go darker with the fur on her dog. The photo reference showed the animal as a very light silver gray but the dog was actually charcoal gray! Another owner had the opposite problem.

Animal portraits can be kind of stressful because of the owner's vision versus the reference photo(s). I wonder why they send photos that don't show the true colors or character of the animal even when asked for ref photos that are accurate. I think it's because they see their dog as it is even when viewing a photo that isn't totally correct.

Anyway, the stressful portrait is finished & I'll post a photo of it in the next few days. I'm hoping to finish the apples today or tomorrow and I'll post a photo of it too.

So --- hang around and watch this space!

December? Already?!!!!

I don't know where the last few months have gone but I had to reactivate my blog to post! Well, I do know where the months have gone - we finally have our house built and are moved in. It's so nice to have the room & especially nice to have a nice large space for my studio!

The studio is still somewhat unorganized but I'm not sure how to do it. I need some storage cabinets or shelves or something with which to store all my art supplies in an orderly and convenient manner. I suppose that will come; right now I'm having to concentrate on other things.

First, I'm trying to get some commissions out of the way for Christmas. Actually, I only have one more to do & I will try to post it when I finish. It's a pet portrait that I'm doing in pastel pencils instead of my usual watercolor. I've also started a still-life in pastel pencils but have had to put that on hold for the time being but hope to get back to it soon. Here's where I am with it right now.


This is from my own reference as some friends gave us quite a few apples from the mountains of Pennsylvania. The bowl is a yellow-ware bowl that was handed down to me by my mother and is a favorite to use for bread making. As you can see, I have quite a ways to go with this painting but I do like the pastel pencils a lot. No, they really aren't quicker than other media I've used (except colored pencil!) but I like the control if not the mess. I'm also having a bit of a time getting a variety of reds. They don't layer or mix like either cp or watercolor or maybe I just haven't found the secret to it yet.

Well, now that I've reactivated this blog, I hope I do better at keeping up with it!