Fonzie II

I did another version of the Fonz that is more of a colored drawing. 

Rosita Conchita Morita

Here's a study for my nieces' pet chihuahua Rosita. Since my niece Lauren is holding her she looks oddly placid when in fact she's a typical nutty chihuahua that moves quicker than a pickpocket. I'm going to do a painting of her and anticipating the challenge of doing her white face that is mainly in shadow. What's life without a challenge? It will serve to hone my technical chops. At least that's what I keep telling myself. 

Study for Daisy

I'm starting a portrait of Daisy, who belongs to Ed and Niamh.  All my paintings begin with sketches as this gives me a chance to get an understanding of construction and proportions. It's like taking some practice swings or warming up. Some things also require a little more studying to figure out, like animal's noses. Because they're totally unlike a human's, I had some difficulty with them initially but I'm feeling comfortable with them now.  Gee, that makes me think of  a dog loogie story...

"Pals"

Art is like anything else in that you have to keep practicing to maintain or raise your skill level. I received a publication from the local humane society and in it were pictures of these two critters so I did a couple quick sketches from the pictures for practice. The hamster kills me. He looks straight out of a Disney movie and seems like he would talk and would have a neurotic personality. Here he's worrying about the quality of the mushrooms he's found for his marinara sauce. The cat looks like he just swallowed a fly and is wondering what that tickling sensation is. I used a black ball point pen, one of my favourite drawing tools.

"Queenie and Wiley"

These are Ed's dogs. Queenie is part Queensland Heeler, really sweet, happy and drinks too much coffee. Ed thought Wiley looked like a coyote, hence his name. He's also known as Wi Lee. Queenie is a wild girl, loves everybody and can't get enough affection. Wiley was an abused rescue dog so he only recently let me pet him and I've known him for about four years. 

"River"

This is Jules' new pup River who is a chihuahua and dachshund mix. When she told me about him I thought he'd be pretty strange looking but he's quite a handsome lad and can't wait to meet him in person. He's part of my "H" piece being angelic. I used a brand of canvas that has a coarser texture than I am accustomed to. Because the voids in the weave are bigger I was having difficulty getting things defined but I like the softer look it creates.  Thanks to Russ for generously photographing this one too. Acrylic on canvas, 16" by 20".

"Hound"

This was an image I saw in a magazine and was part of a photo for an ad so I don't know who the dog is. I just liked the way the dog looked and wanted some painting practice. Friend Russ photographed this for me. Shooting art is quite difficult. Just a few of the problems are that colors shift, the texture of the canvas can create weird patterns and tiny highlights, and thick dark paint causes a shiny area, so he did an amazing job. Acrylic on canvas, 18" by 14".