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?

Maude the Bulldog

Here is a portrait of one of the bulldogs that I have been fortunate to have lived with during my lifetime. Her name is Maude and she was in my life from 1997 as a two year old until the summer of 2006. She was a very sweet dog. I just finished this portrait. It is 7" by 5", colored pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard. I will show another potrait that I did of her in the past soon. I hope to do a montage portrait of all three of the bulldogs that have been in my life sometime in the future.

Stopped to do this in the midst of matting and packing prints. I am getting nervous as a cat off and on getting ready for my first art festival. I still have prints and greeting cards to package and signs to make. Ideally I would also do one more large dog piece. I am also planning to start another dog piece to demo at the festival. The clock is ticking away though. I am keeping up with the barn and yard chores, but the house is getting very dusty and I need to go to the grocery store. Have also had a couple of commission requests -- I am very glad, but it is true, "when it rains, it pours".

Mentors and Guides #2

I am back! I hope more than temporarily -- may computer is not 100% -- sometimes it is not coming on. I think I may have to get another, but I am going to stretch it out as long as I can.

I am continuing the series: Mentors and Guides.

Shortly after coming back to art after my "getting a country/horse centered life hiatus" I knew I would be concentrating on animals -- after all, it is well known artistic advice: "paint what you know" or that might be better put as -- "paint what you know and love".

One of the most inspiring animal artists I encountered eary in my return on this wonderous internet was Melanie Phillips.
Melanie's pet portraits are startlingly realistic. She had been very prolific and has succeeded in supporting herself as an artist through developing an international pet portrait business. She gives a view of her "storybook" life living in a cottage in Whales with narrative and photos on her website. It is important to note that in addition to the development of her outstanding pet art, she has developed a supreme ability to use computer based technology to promote her art and her business. Her website, which she developed on her own, efficiently catalogs years of pet portraits. Her pet portrait commission prices are listed in international denominations! Her blog utilizes the latest technolgy to show works in progress. She has posted videos of her works in progress, also, on her blog. In addition to her pet portrait business, she also does online instruction at the London College of Art and started the online forum: Pet Portrait and Wildlife Forum.

The Pet Portrait and Wildlife Forum is free to all who wish to join. Anyone can go there and look at a wonderful variety of animal art. An aspiring animal artist can find much comaraderie and excellent advice there. Much beautiful animal art is shared and critiques can be received, or not, for the asking. There is advice on many animal art related subjects including: the business of pet portraiture, how to use various media in pet portraits, upcoming events and exhibition in animal art. There is a monthly posting of a challenge -- a photo of an animal is posted and form participants can share their renderings of the animal posted. It is always fun and a learning experience to see how each piece of art from the same photo is unique and interesting.

In sum, an animal artist is very lucky to have a mentor and guide in the artist, Melanie Phillips, and her online Pet Portrait and Wildlife Forum.

Scarlet Macaw

This is another parrot, a scarlet macaw, 12"x9", that I have included in the wildlife portion of my display. It was my first feathered creature, so it was a learning piece. I had not used the reds in colored pencils much until I worked on this piece. The red feathers did not come out as brilliantly as I had planned. The ground, a green colorfix primer on gessoed masonite, was dark -- if I were to do it over again -- I would put down white prior to working with the reds -- and they would be much more brilliant. The reference for this image can be found in the monthly challenges at the Pet Portrait and Wildlife Forum, http://www.pet-portraitartist.com/forum, which I plan to talk more about in my next Mentor and Guides series post on Wednesday.

I am busy with personal paperwork and working on framing today. Hope to be back to the drawing board tomorrow.