HONEY PIE

8x10 oil on canvas sold

Here's a little commission I just recently finished (yes, I've been painting, just neglected posting) for one of my favorite clients. You might remember Bandit, the Blue-Eyed Brown-Eyed Wonder Dog, Bandit's Mama and I teach together and she so kindly commissioned another portrait.

Now, first off you have to love a dog that is so special she has a first name and a middle name. Now imagine Honey Pie's name spoken with the sweetest little Southern Mississippi accent, well it doesn't get any sweeter than that. Honey Pie's story is funny in that my client and her brother grew up "pet-less"...no hamster, kitten, or even a goldfish, never mind a DOG! After the kids were grown up and gone, Mom decided she'd buy herself a little birthday present...a 6 week old Cocker Spaniel...imagine her husband's surprise/shock when he came home from a game of golf to find her birthday present. As you've probably already figured out, it wasn't long before Honey Pie wasn't Mom's dog, she was Dad's dog!

Honey Pie's favorite word is CHEESE! Not too long ago, she tore out of a screened porch to chase a squirrel. Can't you just see her family running around the neighborhood looking for Honey Pie, all the while yelling CHEESE, CHEESE? Honey Pie promptly returned home and, of course waited for her promised cheese reward. Although her days are spent with her Mom, at the end of the day, she faithfully waits at the back door for Dad to come home. Once Dad is home, it's all about the two of them, even though Honey Pie is Mom's dog, don't forget she's really Dad's dog.

Happy 60th Birthday, Ken!
Love, Cam, Jordan, Adams...and Honey Pie, too! :-)

GOLIATH & SCARLETT

8x8 sold

I don't have the opportunity to paint a lot of cats, so when my newest client approached me about painting her 6 cats, I was more than pleased! So as not to overwhelm you with all 6 paintings, I am showing you the first and the last one that I painted.

At 3 weeks of age Scarlett, with the olive green background, was an itty bitty thing living on the side of the road at a vacant general store. My client's family was passing through Kendalia, TX as a major thunderstorm was approaching when Scarlett and her brother, Paxton were discovered. Too tired and weak to even try and run away, they were rescued and are now 3 years old.

Goliath (light blue background) came to live with this family only 6 months ago. Goliath is about 12 years old and came to live at a local vet's office after his owner died and his foster mother fell and broke her hip. He is arthritic and has several medical issues, but he can rest easy because he has found a wonderful forever home.

There were many challenges I had to balance in this assignment. Because I do not have as many cats under my belt as I do dogs, I really had to concentrate on the individual and unique features of each cat. This collection will hang as one group and the client requested that each background be a different color. In addition, I had to make sure that the cats were all about the same size so one would not stand out from another. Whew, I learned a lot about cats and certainly fell in love with each of these precious babies.

Thank you for visiting and commenting on Gus' portrait. I will post and share the companion portraits to Gus one day soon. If you hear any whooping and hollering in NE Texas, it's only me celebrating because school is out and I can be a full time painter for a little while!

IGGY

8x10 oil on canvas sold

Iggy was a commissioned portrait I did before Christmas.

Today was so busy, I worked on a landscape commission, tomorrow it will be an animal painting and some time this weekend I have to begin painting in Camille Olsen's moleskine. I have put off working in her book long enough, time to brush off the intimidation and just move on. Camille's portrait of her husband in her moleskine is amazing, take a look at it on her blog or on the flying moleskin blog.

Today, my parents adopted a little Shih-Tzu just like this one. Her name is Bell, but Mom likes to call her Miss Bella. I'm certain Miss Bella will be on canvas shortly. Thank you for visiting, take care!!

LADY LAUREL

10x10 oil on canvas nfs

This little beauty is a possible Italian Greyhound & Jack Russell Terrier mix, lovingly adopted by a friend. She was the last dog to be adopted at the grand opening of a Dallas animal shelter, all it took was for her to lay her little head with those mouse-like ears on her new owner's shoulders and she immediately had a new home. Way to go Laurel, you've come a long way from shelter dog to diva dog!

This was one of those paintings where I struggled with the composition. Initially I tried to place Laurel within an 8x10 format, but she would not have it, such a diva that she is, I finally settled on the square canvas and felt that that helped to highlight her special ears.

PHOEBE LOVE

8x10 oil on canvas sold
This is one of my most recent commissions, painted within the last couple of weeks. Phoebe is a beautiful lab, loved dearly by her owner, Mrs. Love...don't you love her last name? 

When Mrs. Love described Phoebe to me, she talked about her alert eyes, apparently Phoebe smiles not only with her great big grin, but with her eyes, as well. When Mrs. Love picked up Phoebe's portrait, she loved everything about it, especially her eyes. She left smiling and left me smiling.

BISCUIT

8x10 oil on canvas sold
This was one of my first commissions of 2009. Biscuit is a petite little Chinese Crested with golden locks; she certainly knows she has great hair.  Although beautiful and elegant, she's all dog, one of her favorite activities is chasing squirrels. My very dear plein air painting buddies, Dave & Paula (Mele) Weatherbie, are the proud parents of Biscuit.  

In addition to an accomplished plein air painter, Paula is also a graphic designer. One of her most recent accomplishments was the design and production of a new edition of a book on the artist, Clark Hulings. You can see examples of his superb paintings here. 

SANTA JESSIE

8x10 oil on canvas sold

At the end of last year, I was sent a couple of photos of Jessie, along with a you tube video of Jessie in action at one of her most recent flyball competitions. My client explained that she was not interested in having a painting of Jessie wearing the Santa hat, she just wanted me to have a selection of photos to see if any of those might work for a painting. I asked permission to paint Jessie with the Santa hat for my portfolio and just because it was one of those exercises I just had to paint. I sent an e-mail attachment of Santa Jessie to the client for her "just to see" the finished painting, letting her know I would begin working on her portrait of Jessie as soon as we had decided on photos...well, long story short, she asked if she could buy this one, too...a very nice surprise. You can see Jessie in action here.

CHARLIE

12X12 oil on canvas

This was a commissioned portrait of a beautiful little King Charles Spaniel for the Sloan family. sold