Jump

I took a photo of Bury with sunlight slanting on a part of it, like a broad shaft of light from heaven was beaming down on this dog (if heaven was located to the upper right).
I loved the way it looked, and I decided to do it. Now. Deep breath. Jump.

Go big or go home, as my son says.

This was ...liberating. I'm glad I did it.


I'll be brightening up the fur from the top of the shoulders to the top of the ears. I'm thinking it''s the light of the great beyond you know - "go to the light ...." Or maybe the grim reaper has a really big flashlight.
It's not particularly logical, but it pleases me visually.

(un)Bury the Dead

Worked on fur detail, as in individual hairs, and tried to make his paws and front digging leg look dirty. It will need more peach/red tones. Also did a glaze on the bone. It will never be what I initially imagined, but I am not without hope that it will be done in time. I am okay with the dirt. Note to self - an idea without a working reference is just brain electricity. It's not ready to paint.

Ransom the Captive

Painted the bars of the cage and some fur detail. Each bar has two thin stripes down the side in different colors - violets, blues, greens and browns mostly. The photo doesn't really show it, but you get the idea. Blenheim is still far from done, so here's a detail of the cage. I can't wait to sharpen up the bolt and lock.

Buried

Worked on Bury the Dead. 
Closer, though not there yet, especially the front leg feathers which will be getting much darker. I'll be breaking up some of the lights on the body as well. I am once again swearing to myself that I won't start working unless I have a reference that's absolutely solid. I have one for the body, another for the paws, a third for the head, and too many different Georgia clay references to list.What was I thinking?

7 down 2 to go

Two hours painting. Five hours battling with photoshop.
All but two paintings are finished, and I am hustling them towards completion. The six that are done are up on my website (after much gnashing of teeth and patient explantions plus an extra boost from a friend) and I've emailed them to the gallery.
Down to the wire now with Ransom the Prisoner and Bury the Dead.

Highlights, reflections and silver bells

Kept going on Comfort the Sick this morning. Listening to a Ian Rankin mystery the whole time. Book on CD from the Library - playing through the computer. Turns out to be a good combination with painting. For me this work stands on the devotion of the black dog expressed by his posture, and the tilt of the puppy's head.

Did highlights on the coat, a lot of paw detail.

Worked over the entire puppy, from ears to tail.  Still needs another layer or two. This pup is as speckled as a trucker's mudflap.
Added the pink collar with the tag and two jingle bells.

Added stronger shadow/reflections beneath dogs and wheelchair.

Jammie stripes

Easy day. Did a bit of shopping, and knitted while listening to an Ian Rankin novel on CD - lovely Scots voices.
Painted stripes on the jammies.
Some days are  just lovely like that.

Rawhide bone

Worked on Visit the Prisoner. Reworked the caged dog's fur, plus the cage background and cardboard beneath. Added the water dish and the rawhide bone.

Put lot of time into his face and especially his eye and his paws, pressed against the bars

Time's up

Another happy painting day, this time on Harvest+Time.


Carrot tops, darks and lights on most of the leaves, both kohlrabi (is that the plural of kohlrabus?), highlights on the triangle and precise marks on the compass.

When Bitter is sweet.

Returned to Bitter, the painting I was working on before I went to the dogs. heh.
Painted the silver spoon, the hypo needles and the draperies. I could not put a brush stroke wrong. It felt so right. I remembered how much I love doing still lifes.



I've decided that a problem painting is like the out of control kid in an otherwise easy going group. The difficult kid gets 80% of the attention just to keep him from biting someone's ear or setting fire to the drapes, and all the good kids get a little distracted attention and mostly benign neglect. The result of my musing is that my troubled painting is currently in time out so I can spend some quality time with my good paintings.

Tomorrow I'll be photographing a rawhide bone to add to Visit the Prisoner and painting in the floor drain.