More Purple Dogs

These charismatic girls are Juna & Luna, pit bull/lab mix sisters. Each portrait measures 6" x 6". I typically don't include pets' collars in their portraits, but Juna & Luna's owners searched far and wide for the perfect collars for their girls and we all agreed that the collars should be in the portraits. It also made the background color choices a no-brainer.









You may have noticed that my last few watercolor dog portraits have been purple. I have a simple explanation for that. The latest batch of portrait commissions have included black, dark brown or steel grey dogs. For my watercolor Petzazz portraits, I like to use vibrant and/or bright colors instead of the critters' natural coloring. I still try to use colors that represent the pet's natural coloring though. So I've found that purple is a perfect color for black or dark dogs. It "reads" as a dark color but it's vibrant and interesting.

I don't use purple straight out of the tube either, I like to mix the colors. I usually use ultramarine blue, rose of ultramarine and carbazole violet (Daniel Smith watercolors). Sometimes I'll throw in a little quinacridone rose. Mixing these colors results in more variety of shades/colors on the portrait.

You can see in this detail of Juna's portrait how the colors separate on the Yupo and add to the unique look of this style of portrait. The darkest areas that appear black are just a thick mix of the colors I use to make purple.

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"Alabama Ripple" - New Pet Portrait

I met the client who commissioned Ripple at the Auburn Old Town Gallery one day. She's from Alabama, but was in Auburn visiting her daughter and they both came in to see the art. We had a wonderful conversation about dogs and the charity in Alabama for which she volunteers - Hand in Paw. Really, I'm not at the Gallery all the time, but I work there 2 afternoons a month, and since it's only a few minutes from home, I stop in often. So it was still serendipitous that we were all there at the same time. She mentioned that her sister had a very beloved poodle mix and she'd get back to me about commissioning a portrait as a surprise gift. She may well have contacted my by e-mail even if she hadn't met me that day, but I know that the face to face conversation helped her learn more about me and my portraits and was probably the reason she choose me for the commission. That personal touch is so very important!

At first she wanted a detailed scratchboard portrait, but when I saw the photos she'd been able to "sneak" and e-mail, I told her they were less than ideal, but I'd be willing to give it a try. Over time and with subsequent visits back to Auburn and the Gallery (where she was able to see my various styles of portraits) and e-mail discussions with me, she opted for a portrait in my Petzazz style. We're both very glad she went that route. The Petzazz paintings are looser and more interpretive, so it was much easier to work in that style for Ripple's portrait.


This was the most useful of the photos - showing a great expression and head angle, even if a bit blurry. You can see how it would have been challenging to pull a detailed scratchboard portrait out of that.


I cropped the photo to focus on Ripple's head.



I had a lot of fun with this portrait - the Yupo surface allows me to push paint around and lift it to create all the interesting texture in Ripple's fur. I also "turned back the clock" a bit - getting rid of his cataracts and making him appear less grey. I also chose not to show his back on the left, making it look more like he was sitting instead of standing.


A detail of the portrait


Even more detail of the portrait

PS - I didn't know until today how Ripple's owner felt about the surprise gift of the portrait, but now I do and I'm so pleased that she is happy with it! See the comment below.

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Two New Paintings With Petzazz

I don't always mention it in my blog posts, but these watercolor on Yupo paintings are my "Paintings with Petzazz". A term I coined when I needed a catchier description than "interpretive style".

Yupo is a synthetic paper made of polypropylene. The slick, bright white surface allows the paint to flow and blend differently than on traditional watercolor paper and because the paint/water doesn't soak into the paper, the colors remain vibrant. Interesting watermarks, swirls and blobs are also part of the Yupo effect. Lifting paint off is very easy - all it takes is a damp brush. Corrections are difficult though, as an obvious harsh edge is left where the paint has been moved around. It takes some planning and knowledge of how different paint colors work together, but I like the spontaneity of the process - a lot of it is pushing paint around and then letting it decide what it wants to do. Yupo is a very interesting surface and I really enjoy working with it. You can read more about Paintings with Petzazz on this page of my web site.

It's always a challenge to capture the vibrancy of the paint in the scans of the finished work. These two were especially difficult, I just couldn't get the green backgrounds to look as brilliant as the originals, but this is pretty close.


Bruno, 8" x 8"


Floyd, 8" x 8"

These two dogs belong to the same family. In discussion with my clients, we decided that having two separate paintings was best. I generally use dark blues and/or purples for dark colored dogs, so that was an easy choice for Bruno, the pit bull mix. Since both portraits would be hanging together, lavender/light purple made the most sense for Floyd, the Weimaraner. My clients chose green for the background. They liked the green in this painting I did of my dog Patch.



These are the reference photos I took of each dog:

You'll notice that I used a bit of artistic license on Floyd's portrait - his poor eye was infected and squinty when I took the photos of him.



As I always do when I have the opportunity to take my own reference photos, I took many digital photos of each dog, then chose 3 or 4 (of each) that I liked best. Then I asked my clients to chose their favorite photo of each dog from my choices. This process works very well, since I select photos that I know will work for the portrait and the client chooses the photo that best captures their pet.

I can (and do) work from client-supplied photos, but whenever possible, I take my own. This allows me to get to know the pet, see their personality for myself and to have an assortment of photos that have the detail I want/need for the portrait.

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I'm on a Roll! Another Finished Portrait

This is Chewie, a yorkie (Yorkshire terrier).

Ink on scratchboard, 6" x 6"



And the reference photos:




Next portrait on tap is a handsome dark chocolate colored Pit Bull Terrier. I've already completed the portrait of his buddy, a Weimaraner. These portraits are in my "Paintings with Petzazz" style - the vibrant watercolors on Yupo. Stay tuned, I'll post them both soon.

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Reina the Chihuahua - New Portrait

I recently finished this portrait of Reina and delivered it earlier today.
Ink on Scratchboard, 5" x 5.5"



Below are the color & greyscale photos I used for reference. The brown area at the bottom is part of her leg, so I replaced that with black which would represent her body in that area.



Reina was part of a four chihuahua portrait that I did a couple of years ago. Since that portrait was finished, my clients added 2 more chihuahuas to their family and wanted individual portraits of the 2 new dogs and new portraits of the original four. Of course, I was more than happy to oblige - repeat business is a very good thing! For the new portraits of the original four, we decided to use photos that showed different head angles, so Reina's new portrait is a 3/4 profile.

This is the original 4 dog portrait in ink on scratchboard:

One of them is a chihuahua/yorkie terrier mix.


The portraits of the 2 new chihuahuas, completed last year, also ink on scratchboard:



And a photo of all 6:

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2 More Portraits

Finished and delivered - yay!

Quincy the Newfoundland:

7" x 9", India ink, watercolor and color pencil on Ampersand Aquabord



Ankh & Taita, Abyssinians:

5" x 8", watercolor and a bit of color pencil on Yupo

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American Bulldog Portraits

One of my pet portrait clients is the proud owner of two American Bulldogs. If forced to generalize, I'd say an American Bulldog looks more like a pit bull than the English Bulldog (which I think is what most people envision when they hear "bulldog"). And I must note that "pit bull" is a catch-all term for a number of breeds: American Pit Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier and American Bulldog. These breeds are also lumped into the group often referred to as "Bully Breeds" which includes the English Bulldog, Bull Terrier, Boxer, Bull Mastiff, French Bulldog, Boston Terrier and a few others.

But I digress. . .

I want to share the portraits I did of my client's bulldogs. I finished one portrait a while back and just finished the second one this week.

This is Lexi


and this is Ella

Ella's older now and probably looks much more like Lexi than she did when I took the reference photos for this portrait.

Both portraits are ACEO-sized (2.5" x 3.5") in graphite pencil on bristol (paper).

Find out more about ACEOs and commissioning an ACEO portrait of your favorite critter on this page of my web site.

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"Happy Guy" Pit Bull Terrier Mini Drawing

My first new ACEO for May, a happy, smilin' American Pit Bull Terrier. This pencil drawing is now available on eBay, click on the image to see the listing.

For reference, I used a wonderful photo provided by the director of Pit Prints Rescue. She e-mailed a bunch of great photos, so you'll be seeing more pittie art from me. I'm donating 15% of the final sale price of this piece to Pit Prints.


ACEO format: 2.5" x 3.5"
Graphite pencil

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