Jack Russel terrier in the Woods

A pastel of a Jack Russel terrier created for a client from their photo. Darby passed away peacefully as an energetic 17 year old this summer. The clients were delighted with the portrait of their special boy!

M Theresa Brown

Halloween - SUSPICION

Halloween - SUSPICION
It's here . . . can you feel it? . . .that "something" in the air that tells you Halloween is nearly upon us? Do you sometimes feel like there is someone - or something, walking just behind you? And when you turn around, there is no one there. The air is nearly silent now, except for the cawing of a few crows and the moan of bare tree branches rubbing against one another in the wind. Leaves skitter down the street, scratching their passage on the pavement. And you know, you just know, that little spooks and ghosts and goblins are waiting to march to your door to demand (politely of course) treats on the big night.The little Sheltie in the watercolour is very suspicious of the glowing Jack O' Lantern, and the pumpkin in turn, is very wary of the Sheltie. Which one will be the first to shout "BOO!"
"SUSPICION is 5 x 7 (image) watercolour, painted especially for this Halloween.

Border Collie WIP 2 by Deborah O'Sullivan

Second update on the Border Collie WIP (Work In Progress). Not too much more last night but I did a bit on the eye (still more to do) and background. I am quite satified with this so far and got a nod of delighted approval from his owner when she had a look at the portrait's progress.
I am trying some Golden Open Paints on this and I am not sure I like them. They stay...well..open too long for my liking.  I use M Graham acrylics and they have a fairly long open time which is just enough for the way I work. This painting measures 11 x 14 and is on gallery wrapped canvas.

Drop me an email if you are interested in reserving a spot for a holiday portrait.

  Gift Certificates available in all price ranges!

deborah@deborahosullivan.com

Deborah O'Sullivan Art
www.deborahosullivan.com
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Borzoi by Dawn Secord

This is Niklas. He lives in beautiful San Diego over looking the ocean.

When my husband and I went down to photograph him he was rollicking in his back yard. He'd sit and look out over the ocean. His owners said that is one of his favorite past times.
We took numerous photos of Niklas looking out at the ocean and some more conventional photos for a second painting which will be a head study.

Niklas is a spectacular dog. He is gentle and sweet yet full of life. It is always heart stopping to watch a Borzoi gleefully bound around their homes.

Watch for another portrait of Niklas in the near future! To see more Borzoi paintings on my website please click here!

Dawn Secord
http://www.dawnsecord.com/
http://www.artofthedog.blogspot.com/

Painted Dog- Real Dog

As I write this blog entry, I am being besieged by JRT kisses. Little Nell just woke up from her nap on the cushy pillows on our bed, and NOW she feels it is time for play. I ,on the other hand, am still working,still need to clean up my messy palette of dried casein and try to find my desk under books and paper piled high. I clean the studio occasionally and in between times, the piles get high and things get lost. It is time to clean.....or else! And Nell wants to play

The above casein is a small 5 x 7" titled"Big Shadow"... and little Italian Greyhound, smaller than it's shadow! I am putting this work up on my website in the Small Work Collection. This was finished today, while Nell napped.

Cozy spot for a Jack Russell Terrier-ist!

Kathi Peters
Cob Cottage Studio
www.kathipeters.com

Holiday Portrait Time!

Last night it was back to the acrylics to work on holiday portraits. I can't post a few of them til after the holidays because they are surprises. Can't ruin the surprise..now can we? Today's image is on it's way to be completed. I am thrilled to be doing a portrait of this Border Collie becauser he comes from the same rescue , Glen Highland Farm, as my beloved Tess. He is in a classic BC pose...waiting for his frisbee to be thrown. This is close to be finished. The eyes are not finished just blocked in at this point. I neglected to take photos earlier but I managed to whip out the iphone and get this. I apologize for the all of that glare! I am coming into the home stretch with this starting to add the fun details and will post the final image. Portraits make such wonderful, treasured gifts. Just a couple of spots left for this year or you can purchase a gift certificate. Contact me if you would like to schedule a portrait or purchase a gift certificate.

painting a Dog a Day by Kimberly Kelly Santini

"Golden," 4" x 5", dog portrait of a mixed breed terrier, acrylic on canvasboard. This dear little face can join your Dog a Day painting collection for $184 - just ask nicely! Inquiries may always come to me.

Thank you to Dog a Day reader Cindy Earnshaw for sharing photos of Pokey, this Boston Terrier mix. I continue to look for black and white muses as I further my exploration of extreme values and pattern - if you know of someone who fits the description, you are more than welcome to send (non flash) photos my way. They just might end up gracing the Dog a Day website!

Thanks, as always, for looking at - and sharing - my artwork with your friends and family.

Kim

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

www.paintingadogaday.com

PS Want a great gift this holiday season? Then order either one of the Painting a Dog a Day books - they are gorgeous summaries of the Dog a Day project. Painting a Dog a Day - the First Year covers 2006-2007, and That's 14 in Dog Years covers 2008. Information on how to order each book is on the Painting a Dog a Day blog and thestudio website.

Dillon the Irish Setter by Dawn Secord

This is "Dillon" Am. Can. Ch. Rusticwood's Airtight Alibi.

I've known Dillon for many years and he is a wonderful dog. We photographed him at a number of dog shows trying to get the perfect shot of him for his portrait.

Ultimately three photographs were the primary reference material for this portrait. One photo was the main pose. However, that photo had draw backs. His eyes were squinting as he was in the sun and his neck was hanging a bit funny due to his leash and his owner holding his head up with her hand. From the photos taken of him there was a perfect eye photo giving me his eye shape and eye color. That photo was used as my visual aid to create his eyes in the painting. Another photo had him standing at ease with no restrictions on his neck. That photo was used to create the natural look to his neck.I always tell people we take lots of photos because I won't know what will be needed until the painting is started!

This painting was a perfect example of needing multiple photos.Thanks Dillon for being such a good poser! More paintings of Irish setters along with many other breeds are on my web site. Please click here to go take a peek!

For information on commissioning a painting of your dog, cat or horse - click here!

Dawn Secord

http://www.dawnsecord.com/

http://www.artofthedog.blogspot.com/

AUTUMN REDS - Irish Setter

Irish Setters are so beautiful with their elegant lines and mahogany coats. There were Irish setters in the family when I was growing up, and it was always fun to spend time with them. My aim in this painting was to recapture happy memories of a little girl and the big, red dog. I've used the greeny-gold light of an autumn afternoon, and it brings a warm sparkle to the memory as well as to the painting.Autumn Reds is an 8 x 10 (image) watercolour, and is available matted for $350. This is also available as a small (5 x 7) print. To inquire, please contact anderson.animalart@sympatico.ca

''Sam''

Sam belongs to our close friends Ian and Pat, Ive been wanting to get him on the drawing board for some time, but only had the chance to photograph him a couple of weeks ago. I intend to give them a mounted print as a surprise present for Christmas, total drawing size is approx 10 x 8 inches, drawn on Mellotex off white paper, using 2h, hb, and 2b pencils

Painting a Dog a Day by Kimberly Kelly Santini

"Duke," 4" square, commissioned pet portrait of a black lab, acrylic on canvasboard, private collection (THANK YOU!). Inquiries may always come to me.

Colors that fall opposite each other on the color wheel (called "compliments") vibrate when asked to sit side by side. Just like these blues and oranges.

Compliments make great companions when building a simple composition because, without any tricky brushwork or complex patterning, one can build immediate excitement and tension.

Thanks, as always, for looking at - and sharing - my artwork with your friends and family.

Kim

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

www.paintingadogaday.com

Sam the canine artist

Reprinted from The Telgraph

Using the lush surroundings of his home town of Eastern Shore, Maryland as his muse, Sam's paintings are attracting a loyal art world following.

Some of his 22 paintings - done using a tailor-made paintbrush held in his mouth - have sold for up to $1700 (£1,045).

"Sam is a regular renaissance dog and his abstract paintings are all the rage with the hip New York galleries," says Mary Stadelbacher, Sam's owner.

"He loves his painting and would happily carry on for hours if I left him to it.

"He loves to work in a variety of colours and layers his paintings with darker shades first and then moves on to lighter ones later."

Mary, who runs Shore Service Dogs, in the United States took in six-year-old Sam four years ago as a rescue dog.

"He had been bounced around a couple of dog pounds, so I couldn't have that," says Mary about Sam, who is a bloodhound, sheep-dog cross.

"I took him in and intended to train him up as a fully fledged service dog."

However, soon after Mary took Sam in she was struck down by a botched operation that robbed her of the use of her right hand for a time.

"I never completed Sam's training because of my rehab," says Mary.

"So in the end I decided to keep him on to help me around the house."

Painting al-fresco in the summer and by the heat of a bright fire in the winter, Sam the painting dog is a pooch for all seasons.

"Using his specialised training as a house-help dog, combined with my amateur art background, Sam is a fully trained artist," explains Mary.

"He takes the paint-brush mouth piece and will approach the canvas and begin painting on the simple command of 'paint'.

Inspired to teach Sam to paint after seeing a spate of painting animals, Mary and Sam help to keep Shore Service Dogs centre open with the money made from the art sales.

"I saw dolphins painting and elephants painting, so I thought why not a dog?" explains Mary.

"He has been exhibited in swanky New York galleries such as Denise Dibro's studio and art collectors have bought his work from as far a field as Chicago.

"We even had one woman buy her dog one of Sam's paintings as a birthday present.

"He is quite a unique abstract artist."

WHY DO I PAINT ANIMALS?

Have you ever wondered why you do the things you do? Taking stock, I asked myself why I have a compulsion to paint dogs, cats, and horses. I do dip into the world of Fantasy every so often, but always, always, I come back to dogs, cats, and horses.I don’t want to change these animals in my paintings – to experiment or play with colour, shape or texture. It would be an artistically valid thing to do, and I admire the artists who do it, but it doesn’t satisfy the artist in me or the animal lover. I think animals are so beautiful just the way they are. I love the challenge of painting the different textures of their hair, from short and sleek, wavy or bristly, to long, luxurious and soft. Their colours enchant me, all those whites, creams, silvers, tans, golds, russets, chestnuts, sepias and blacks, and every shade and tint in between. I love all the shapes; the infinite variety of dog shapes, the soft and round, or long and lean of cats, and the pure poetry of horses. But it is their eyes that simply ensorcelle – Dark, liquid and trusting, emerald, sapphire or topaz bright, or soft, gentle and deep. I melt when I look into those eyes.My love affair with animals has been going on all my life and will never end. I have to paint – I’ve no choice. It’s as necessary as breathing. And for the most part, all I want to paint are the animals I love. I paint these lovely creatures as carefully as I can to celebrate them, to share my love for them with the people who see my paintings, and to get into that special zone where, just for a little while, the delightful animal I’m painting belongs to me.The Sheltie image above was done in Coloured Pencil, and is available as 4 x 6 Note Cards in packages of 6 for $8.00.
Posted by Heather Anderson at 7:46 AM

Sun, Moon, Stars - Carol Chretien

Shakespeare is a rescued BONES (Beagles of New England States) beagle. He is the much loved beagle of a family that endulges his delight of being held in their arms like a baby.
Being the center of THEIR universe gave my imagination the right boost of how to portray him in costume. All the worlds a stage...for the Halloween series this was the right get up for Shakes!
It is listed for sale on my blog with 20% going to BONES when sold.
thanks for looking! Carol Chretien
www.carolchretien.com & www.carolchretien.blogspot.com for details.

Painting a Dog a Day by Kimberly Kelly Santini

"In Hot Pursuit," 11" x 14", Golden Open Acrylics on Ampersand Gessoboard, depicting a Pointer and a Chocolate Lab romping together in an autumnal Michigan field. This painting takes my black & white as subject matter exercise to an entirely new plane!

"In Hot Pursuit" is lined up to go to several exhibitions and therefore not currently for sale. However, interested parties may always send an inquiry to me, as I've got a track record for choosing a permanent home over exhibitions.

This painting is also part of a mini-art lesson I put together. You can view the lesson in it's entirety on the Painting a Dog a Day blog. And my apologies in advance - there are lots of images, and the page will take some time to load.

Finally, thanks go to Andrea O'Donnell for granting me permission to use Zoey and Darby as inspiration. Andrea, I owe you some sushi and sake the next time we get together!

Thanks, as always, for looking at - and sharing - my artwork with your friends and family.

Kim

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

www.paintingadogaday.com

Jack Russell in the Woods

This little Jack Russell terrier was a favorite with his owners and after he passed they asked me to create a pastel from a photo they had taken one day when he was romping in the woods with them. I removed the red harness at their request and used the textures from the Canson paper to add some texture to the tree.

Theresa

www.mtheresabrown.com

painting a Dog a Day by Kimberly Kelly Santini

"Coming in for a Kiss," 5" x 7", commissioned dog portrait of an Italian Greyhound, acrylic on canvasboard. Inquiries may always come to me.

Just as I was setting my palette up for today's painting session, the Fed X man brought me a box from Dick Blick, a box containing my order of Golden Open Acrylics. Open acrylics are a new type of acrylic paints that take longer to dry (similar to oil paints) yet still retain the ease of solvent free cleanup typical to acrylics.

This is my first piece using the Open Acrylics, but so far I'm really liking them. I was able to do some blending and mixing on the canvasboard that I couldn't do easily prior. I could lay marks down and return to that area an hour later and still push/pull the paint. The hardest thing (for me) was waiting a couple hours after finishing the painting, allowing it to dry enough so that I could scan it. With retrospect, that really isn't so hard.

I think I'm going to like these. A lot.

Thanks, as always, for looking at - and sharing - my artwork with your friends and family.

Kim

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

www.paintingadogaday.com

Pastel of Pit Bull

A cameo pastel of a client's Pit Bull, Isis, created on Canson acid free paper. The brindle color is always a pastel challenge and when working from a photo, it's always good to have some outdoor photos to show the true colors of the coat! The clients were delighted.

Theresa
www.MTheresaBrown.com
www.OnRoadArtists.com

Painting a Dog a Day by Kimberly Kelly Santini

"Demur (Taylor)," 5" x 7", portrait of a black Cocker Spaniel, acrylic on Ampersand Gessoboard, not for sale. Inquiries may always come to me.

Taylor's portrait was initially commissioned over 6 years ago. Various events occurred to postpone her portrait, first once, then another time, and I think even a third. I set her folder aside, trusting that when the timing was right, the project would pull together.

And it did!

Taylor's portrait is headed to the Southeastern Michigan Portrait Exhibition, a juried annual show at the Orion Art Center. She'll be accompanied by last week's painting ofFinnigan and, I think, an earlier one from my personal collection of my black cat Miah. This show is unique in that the exhibited artwork does not have to be for sale, so it allows me to showcase paintings that might not be on the market or pieces that have already sold.

If you are in the area, the exhibition opens next Friday, October 16th, at 7pm (call 248-693-4986 for more information). Please stop by, enjoy the collection of artwork (this year it includes pottery as well), and share a glass of wine with fellow art enthusiasts.

Thanks, as always, for looking at - and sharing - my artwork with your friends and family.

Kim Santini

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

www.paintingadogaday.com

Canine Art Guild's Helping Paws, 2009 is now live!

The Canine Art Guild presents, Helping Paws, 2009!

We invite you to view the 2nd Annual Canine Art Guild Helping Paws Online Exhibition, a unique event in which participating artists have partnered with local animal shelters & rescue groups to help raise awareness and funds for animal welfare. Each of the artists in this show have pledged a percentage of their pieces' sale to a particular group. People's Choice Voting is now open.

Visit the show at
http://www.canineartguild.com/gallery/

Beyond. Whippet drawing by Sheona Hamilton-Grant.

Here is Beyond my new entry for the CAG Helping Paws online show.
Love the mystery of the piece the way so much is said yet so much left unsaid...
Applied my lessons learned from the master Da Vinci once again in the drapery of the dog's blanket.

Beyond is for sale unframed (framing is easily organised ).
20% of the proceeds of the sale will be donated to the DCGR.
Dumfries & Cumbria Greyhound Rescue is based in Scotland helping Greyhounds escape their doomed future after their racing careers end.
This is worthy cause I am proud to support the best way I can: through my art.

Who knows maybe one day I'll be able to adopt one of these thoroughbred canines myself ...
Until then I proudly present Beyond... the dog that never turned round.

Beyond
2009
Graphite on Paper.29x19 cm
Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved

260 Euros