M&M iPad Puppy Portrait

Monty and Maggie
ArtStudio App on iPad

I painted this portrait of two sweet rat terriers using the ArtStudio app on my iPad. This is a great app with may features similar to the ones in Photoshop on the computer. I plan on doing an app comparison between ArtStudio and Procreate in my next post but the short of it is, in my opinion, they are both great apps so it comes down to personal preference.

Monty Detail

Maggie Detail

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The Dog Park

We have a fantastic dog park here in town! We had two great danes visiting us this weekend so we took them to play. I had a lot of fun watching the dogs and taking photos of them running around, splashing in the water.

I absolutely fell head over heels for this puppy!

GREAT Photography! Jill Luecht!

My last post was a little about my new dSLR camera and my attempts at taking reference photos. I thought I'd post today about a friend of mine who's a professional photographer and takes FANTASTIC photos, Jill Luecht.

Jill also uses a Canon! :)

Jill is a natural light, on-location, lifestyle photographer as well as a photo editor. You just have to check out some of her photos! She has a facebook page here where she posts about what she's currently working on. She also has a web www.luechtphotography.com where she tells more about herself and the services she offers along with an etsy shop.

How sweet is she!?

Jill currently lives and works in Germany though she does visit the US and when she's here she's generally available for photo shoots. With Christmas coming up I can't help but think what a great gift her photography would be!

Not only does she takes great photos but she can make great photos out of the rest of our lousy ones! So if you take photos over the holidays which you really wish you'd done a better job with, she can make them look like you did! How great is that!? There's nothing worse than thinking you got that perfect shot then realizing it didn't come out quite how you'd thought. It's not very likely you're going to be able to call everyone back to the scene for a reenactment to retake the photo. It's nice to know there's another option out there.

Jill does photo editing for businesses as well as for individuals, you can see examples on her Facebook page and website she does a great job of making something great out of something blah. I also found some of her work here and now I'm really wishing for one of those cupcakes! :)

As a graphic designer I work with photos a lot and if you can't tell already, I'm a huge fan of Jill's!


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Vito - Complete

Vito
12x12
Oils

My latest pet portrait is of a glorious sheepdog! I was very happy to use this aqua paint color which I had found right before I was contacted about painting Vito.

Morgan - Final

Morgan

12x12

Oils

Morgan, Morgie, Magoo, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pants, PumPum, Pajama Bottoms (Indian name), Baby Girl, Nellie, Nellie Nugget, Nuggie, Nuggie Bump, Naughty Norkin, Squash, Kirplunk...All are names for my beloved puppy. It's funny how we do that, I know I'm not the only one who dons my animals with a variety of nicknames. I don't know a more loving dog and I'm so lucky to spend my days with her.

Golden Retriever - Final

Golden Retriever
12x12
Oil
Available on Etsy

I've finished this puppy off and have posted him in my etsy store! I'm happy to finally have gotten an original painting up there! More to come soon I hope!

Golden Retriever - Work in Progress

I was able to work on the Golden some more this weekend. Above is the second photo I took (the first one I posted last week).

I think he's done. I'm going to stare at it for a while longer to see if there are any other tweaks I want to make. If not, I just need to sign it, paint the edges, and get the wire on the back for hanging.

I had some issues with the wire last time, I can't be the only one, or maybe I am. I switched over to using Ampersand Gessobord painting panels. I prefer them because they're a bit deeper and I don't need to prime them as they come ready to paint on. The downside is that I have to put wire on the back.

I don't know how anyone gets the eye hooks into the wood frame on these panels, it takes someone stronger than I, that's for sure! Or, maybe there's a drill involved. If I did that as a first step then I could clamp the painting panel into a vice grip...hmmm, maybe next time I'll give that a shot. In the mean time, I came up with a pretty good solution, I used a staple gun to staple the wire in place on each side then doubled it back on itself and wrapped itself, same as you'd do with the eye hooks.

I'm pleased with the results and I don't think the wire's going anywhere, so maybe I'll leave the drill on the shelf.

Golden Retriever - Work in Progress

I haven't posted a work in progress in a while as I've been side-tracked with life and, ahem, my iPad. Here's the first stage of a Golden Retriever which I started working on this past weekend.

The Winery Dog

Winery Dog
Procreate app on iPad

Here's another painting I did using the Procreate App on the iPad. I sat on the couch with my reference photo on my iPhone, painting on my iPad. No mess, no set up, no clean up time. While I certainly enjoy actual paints, there is a great appeal to the ease of whipping out the iPad and painting away. I mentioned a while back having an interest in purchasing a pochade box for painting on the go. I think I may have found the perfect pochade, in a completely unexpected package with a shiny Apple on the back.

Jigsaw - Final

Jigsaw
12x12
Oil

Duke - Final

Duke
12x12
Oil

The owner of Duke and Jigsaw is a big time Steelers fan, drives a big red truck and is generally wearing something in red, hence the color scheme here.

Another Sketch of Miss Morgan

This is not a sketch from real life, but rather from a photo which I'm thinking of painting. My plan is to wrap up the great dane portraits today and get started on hers, we'll see how that goes...

Morgan Under Cover

Morgan was a bit chilly so I threw a coat over her. which made her incredibly happy. She ended up with her head tucked completely under it with just a bit of her nose and her two front paws sticking out. Making her look a bit like a hermit crab. She's quite a character! :)

Riley Staring Off into the Wild Blue Yonder - Final

About a year and a half ago I did a sketch of my Riley (here) and turned started working on a painted version (here). I finally pulled it back out last week and finished it up. Here's the final scan:

Riley, Summoning the World

10x8

Oil on Canvas Panel

Sketches

While sitting in front of the wood stove over the holidays I was able to pull out my sketch book and draw my surroundings a bit. Two of my subjects were a German Shepherd named Jasmine and a Great Dane named Jake. 

Oddly, the normally high strung shepherd was the better model, she laid still for periods of time so I was able to draw her. 

Jake on the other hand, while normally the still one, was constantly on the move so I wasn't able to do a very good job with him.

And then there was the wood stove.

Jigsaw - Work in Progress 2-4

Above are are some more stages of the painting of Jigsaw. OK...so I did this backwards. I know you're supposed to paint the background first but sometimes I just can't help myself and I jump right into the foreground subject matter before I realize what I've done. Sometimes you just don't have any control over these things ;).

Duke - Work in Progress 2

I currently have 6 paintings in the works and that's working out quite nicely. It's allowing me to paint a stage of each while allowing some drying time for the rest.

Hollister Final

Hollister

12x12

Oil on Wood Panel

Here is the finished painting of Hollister. I was so excited when I received his photo, I couldn't wait to paint this guy! He has such fun hair! I really worked the texture on this one and am pleased with how he turned out.

Detail of nose.

Here's a shot of the painting hanging on the wall. This is painted on a self hanging wood panel and I've painted the edges with black acrylic paint.

Certificate of Authenticity on the back of the painting.

Hollister - Work in Progress 1

Hollister, Ogden's brother, is an adorable golden doodle who looks like he must have loads of personality! This is the under painting stage of his portrait.

Ogden - Final

Ogden

12x12

Oil on Wood Panel

Here's a completed portrait I did of a lovely golden retriever.

Detail of nose and mouth.