Fluffy : : new cat portrait

Fluffy

6" x 6"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord

Commission

Awhile ago I painted a portrait of my friend Danielle's cat Paprika as a tribute to her after she passed away. You can see that portrait of Paprika by clicking here.

Danielle recently asked if I would paint portraits of her other two other cats at the same size and also one of her first cat, PK, who passed several years ago. So my next several posts will be all about cat portraits! Cats a great fun to paint with a palette knife. Especially the whiskers.

Great Danes: : Large pet portrait commission

The Boys: Ziggy and Rory

24" x 36"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

Comission

Tim asked me to paint a portrait of his two Great Danes as a gift for his partners's birthday. These large dogs needed a big canvas and it took about 8 painting sessions to complete. I took some progress shots along the way. 

Here was my set up. I printed out the reference photo at actual size (on 4 color copies 11" x 17" that I taped together.)

I started with the most important things first-the dogs. I painted a little of green background around them so that I could make sure they would read on the dark green and also to soften the edges of the dogs a little bit.

Then I painted the trees in the background.

Then the flowers, grass, and finally the rocks. The rocks were the hardest thing to paint. They have a lot of colors and textures that I wanted to capture but didn't want them to distract from the dogs.

The painting is now hanging in its home in Austin Texas and the owner sent me this pic of Rory on the couch staring at the painting on the wall. Apparently, he does this every day for 15 minutes at a time.

Thor and Loki at the Public Garden

Thor and Loki

9" x 12" x 1.5"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord

These two Sharpei cuties are residents of Boston and like to hang out at the Boston Public Garden. I had done a painting of Thor on the beach previously but now Thor has a new sibling, Loki to share his escapades with so Hercules wanted me to paint a new painting of both of them together.

Here are a few shots I took along the way to show the process and the progress. I always start with  the most important thing, the subjects, then work my way out from there adding more details along the way as needed.

Notice that I left a little orange corner unpainted in the bottom left. Do you know why? That's where my signature goes so I leave a space to carve out my initials at the very end.

Superbowl Sunday

Polo's Pat Hat

8" x 6"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas panel

SOLD

We will be working at the art gallery at Patriot Place this Sunday, Super Bowl Sunday, but will be home in time to watch the game in the evening. While it will be a "Patriotless" game, it will still be fun to watch both the game and the commercials (but when do you use the restroom without missing something??).

Happy Superbowl Sunday everyone! Next week, one of two lucky cities will be celebrating their world champions with a parade.