Christmas Commissions, Part 2

Here is the Collie, Daisy, almost done.  I am giving it a rest before deciding whether or not it is finished.

I went ahead and started the cat, Izzy.  The owners say she is giving her "sweet look"  so I am really working on that.

Both portraits are 8x10, colored pencil on panel.

Art Fair Report, Hawk WIP, Commission

A week has gone by since the Kent Art in the Park art festival.  I had a death in my family and stopped in Coshocton on the way to the festival and then stayed with my mom on the way back.

Here is an image of my booth and an image of the crowds and other parts of the festival.  It was a nice laid back place to be. Though cutting the light a bit and also leading to intermittent showers of acorns, being in the trees was quite peaceful.  I enjoyed talking to many of the festival patrons.  I drew nice crowds while drawing.  Some other artists cautioned that demoing can lose customers -- that it is really important to talk with the customers. I never ignored them totally.  However, I did draw less and talk more on the second day, it did not seem to make any difference on sales.  Total sales was 5 greeting cards.  I did expect better from such a big show.  Most artists said their sales have been steadily declining the last two years.  I do not regret the experience, but have done better at the other shows I have been in, thus far, saleswise.  Ironic, in that I really thought this was going to be my best sales opportunity yet.

I am proud that I was able to attend, set up and take down my outdoor display on my own .  I did get some volunteer help with it a few things, but know I could do it entirely on my own if I had to. 

I enjoyed meeting some other artists.  Have promises for commissions, which as usual, may or may not come through.

Below are the sketches for a commission I received at the Zanesville Y-Bridge Festival.  The finished pieces will  only br 3 1/4 by 5 and 1/4 inches.  One dog is a full grown Great Dane and the other is a Great Dane puppy.  I am relieved that the customer just approved proceeding after viewing the compositional sketches. 

Here is my hawk portrait WIP at the conclusion of Kent Art in the Park.

I still have a little ways to go with it, but am generally pleased with  it thus far.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!

Trouble with blogger? Pet Portraits WIP cont'd

I have been working on this blog a little everyday. Getting instructions to change my security settings, etc. I can see my blog when I sign in, but all of my gadgets are still at the bottom, even though the design/layout feature says I have them on the side. I have been told tthis blog is not coming up properly when you try it access it. How is it working for you? If you are reading this and can let me know, I would appreciat it.

I am posting Hannah, completed, tho0ugh I may do a little last minute fussing at any time.

Trina WIP.

Hannah and Trina, thus far, are meeting my expectations of how I would like to render these dogs, more than the the earlier portrait. I did save the best reference photos for last, but I don't know if that is the total reason.

I am going to the Y-Bridge Art Festival this weekend. I would like to have all seven portraits done by Wednesday so I can look for a demo I would like to do and get ready. Of course, I will have to do these things even if I don't get the seventh portrait done before the show. It would just be nice to know I am ready to deliver them. The show and also several appointments the following week will be biting into my time quite a bit.

One of the things on my to do list next week is to take all the kitties in for neutering and spaying, I got some help from a feral cat organization with this and have an appointment. However, momma kittie just had, six I think, kittens on Friday.
OMG! I have tamed two of the three original kitties pretty well and still have hope for the third -- put everyone is saying it is near impossible to find cats/kittens homes around here these day.

Moor later. Please let me know how my blog is working for you if you can.

Pet Portraits finished and WIP

Here is Abbey finished. As I was struggling so much with making up poses, I have decided to take existing photos, though missing detail when enlarged and just make a few modifications. I have finished Cleo using the photo below. There is a tad more definition in the face than I could get with my scanner.



Here is a sketch of Hannah, whom I hope to work on today quite a bit. I think using these photos and a sitting pose helps to have a little more head area to work on, which I like.

Abbey, WIP 2

This is as far as I got with Abbey, yesterday. I know it does not look like much, but it takes alot of layering to get that black fur. I may refine her nose and bridge of her nose more. I usually like to do the background at the same time, but since I scrapped the first one with alot of background time in it, I just concentrated on the dog first in this one. I will try to do the background the same as I did with Missey so that they are compatable. I did spend some time reviewing the reference photos for the other dogs, yesterday, also. Did alot of editing in my photo programs. And though they will be a little bigger than I orignally planned, I am going to use some existing reference photos more completely than I had originally planned to do the other three. I would prefer to do them a little larger than these first two and I just don't have the time to struggle with what I can't see. I am afraid that my previous sketches are just not detailed enough. I was getting hung up on trying to make the poses "more sophisticated" and all similiar in size.

Above is the photo of Missy and the finished 9x12, colored pencil portrait. Below is Abbey, WiP. This is the second one I have started with her. I did choose to do her next because I find blac dogs to be the most difficult, also, she has the least clear reference photos. The first one was a cross between a cartoon character and early American Folk Art (which I like, but did not want for her portrait!) I had a couple of photo sessions with another dog as well as new sketches before I started the second one. I am more pleased with it. Abbey is pictured far right below. I also am doing the left two dogs as well as a golden retriever.

The commission calls for dogs being posed in certain ways. All the pictures are going to hang in the same room, so I am thinking of doing the grass and sky pretty much the same for background, though I wish I could go simpler than that, I feel with these full body portraits it would not work out for me to try to do a monotone background. I am trying to balnce wich way the dogs are facing in accrordance with how many portraits there are, i.e. so many facing to the left and so many facing to the right. I like to do straight on of the head, but am going with the best reference shots for the most part.

Feeling at turns, frustrated, scared, happy, stupid, lucky. Time to get to work, I will post what I have gotten done early tomorrow morning.

Portrait of Cracker

Here is the delivered portrait of Cracker. I had the black and white for the pose in this one and the snapshot for color. I did the portrait, called the client for next day delivery, decided it was horrible and spent most of the night and part of the next day redoing it. It is not as easy to see detail in the reference photos as I initially thought it was. Can you say pressure? I am very happy (and relieved) that he liked it very much. This dog was his wife's dog when she was a child, he is giving it to her today for her birthday -- I hope she likes it. I was exhausted the next day and did not move from the couch much. Since then I have caught up on housework and chores, as well as making a run to go out to dinner with my mom.

I will work daily, starting tomorrow on the rest of the portraits, they will be from snapshots, but the desired poses need to be fabricated. I will be doing alot of sketches first. I iniatilly did Cracker with an outdoor background, but abandoned that. The portraits will all be hanging in the same room, so need to think a bit about their compatibility also. The contract is for plain backgrounds. I am doing these on colorfix paper instead of the hardboard. That, as well as going back to a small size,12x9, have been challenging as well.

I am very happy to have such a huge commission during a fairly uncommitted month. These are all due before August 14. My next fair is

Auguast 7&8.

Blue Eyes

Here is one of the commissions I did for Christmas. The large dog is a German Shepherd-Huskie mix. Aren't those blue eyes intriguing! I used three different photos to make this composition of two dogs. It is 12x9 inches, colored pencil on Ampersand pastel board. I heard from the client that the gift was very well received. When asked how I could improve my services, the client replied only that I should keep doing my art because he considered me so talented. A very nice comment. Very rewarding experience all around -- the doing and the happiness of the customer! This customer (a couple who gave the commission as a present to their son and daughter-in-law) saw me a the art festival in Zanesville that I did this summer.

I have been going to work at my job this week -- in between has been taken up by trying to catch up on neglected house work and seeing my mom. So thus far I have not done great in the New Year on some of my goals. But I will follow Mona Majorowicz's example of having faith that putting my intentions out into the universe will help lead me in the right direction.

Hope you are all having a great New Year. Thanks for stopping by, Angela

Giving Thanks

An 8x10 commission that was a Christmas present last year.

I hope you all had a Happy Turkey Day! I had a nice one with my family. I am most thankful for family and friends along with having my health! Though I worry about my finances -- I feel very fortunate in the big picture way -- I am not worried about losing my house and can currently meet my, as well as critters', every day needs without going into irreversible debt if I am careful.

The coming of the end of the year means I need to review what I have accomplished during the past year and formulate goals for next year. If I don't know where I am trying to go, it is not likely that I will get there. It is important to make art business goals that are specific and measurable. If you are an artist looking to grow your business, do you do this?

New Cat Commission and Feedback about Sanders

These are the photos I am working from on my current cat commission. The bottom one is a full bodied view. The order is for a 5x7 inch size so I cropped the image to the view in the image appearing at the top. This will be a gift for the client's mother. This cat has also gone over the Rainbow bridge. He used to love to ride in the car, which I know some cats do -- though I have never had one that did. His right eye had a defect, but is reported to still be blue. I will include this in the portrait, but not as prominently as in the photo, after talking with the client. The client said he was silver point, but darkened with age -- I will also use this information to choose the colors for his portrait. He also was reported to often stick out his tongue like in this photo. The client wanted a pose of him with his tongue sticking out; so that also weighed heavily on which photo to choose for the portrait.

I thought about showing a work in progress, but the phone line was no good all of yesterday and part of this morning -- so I had no internet. I have gotten it about three fourths done now. So will hopefully post a finished version tomorrow -- at any rate I will post the progress to-date tomorrow. I had hoped to have a full working day today, but since I did two minor medical procedures this week (Mon and Wed) --wanted to get them them out of the way -- I am much more whipped today, after the second one yesterday afternoon, than I expected to be. Moving slow, having a hard time getting necessary/routine tasks done today. But still may get a few hours in on the portrait.

I was very happy this morning to read the comments I was e-mailed by the recipient of the Sanders portrait, which I posted about yesterday:

"Angela, thank you so much for the beautiful portrait of my beloved Sanders. When Bob gave the present to me and I opened it and saw Sanders, I was so shocked. Unbelievable!!!! I have his portrait hanging in my dining room. I feel like his eyes are watching me. You captured his eyes and everything about him which is unbelievable...It is just a beautiful piece of art, and, of course, my precious Sanders! Thank you so much for putting so much time and feeling into drawing his portrait!!!"

What more could an artist want?