Riley

 Last Fall, a friend saw some of my paintings on line and asked if I would be interested in painting a portrait of her dog. I told her to send me some photos and we could talk about it. A few months later, she began sending me photos of Riley. She wanted to surprise her husband with a special Christmas gift. 

After looking at all the photos, I picked one that I thought I could work with. She and I talked about 'the life of Riley'... he seemed to loll around on the sofa quite a bit! You can't see it in this photo, but his right paw just draped off the sofa cushion - casual, nonchalant... 

I began with a sketch on sanded paper.

I decided to work on his face first to get a feel of what he might look like. I got in the suggestion of his body and wasn't sure what to do about the sofa...

...maybe just a simple background of a complimentary color. The more I worked on it the less I liked it! I did like that he popped out with a dark background, but I kept fighting with his body.

So, I gave up the landscape shape and thought I would try it as a vertical. I could crop out a lot of his body...  I cropped the photo...and got rid of those pesky legs!

I began again - this time on Art Spectrum paper that comes in dark gray. It's a better start.

 Now I am really liking his face, but still finding the legs a problem.  What if...maybe just a head shot... I'll erase his body.

If I put in a bit of neck, he could look regal...

Ta da... It is really about Riley's face.

The First Grandchild

I love being a grandmother! Watching all those firsts... Taking pleasure in just being there for them as they move from one stage to another. Our youngest grandchild is now 14, too big to carry around...but we have good friends who are just getting started in the 'grandparent' role. It is wonderful to see love in action.

I dropped by a friend's house one day when her grandson was visiting. I had not met him before so I spent a few minutes in some silly chat. I went inside to visit with his grandfather and when I got ready to leave, I went back outside and found him and his grandmother. I wanted to say good by and also wanted to take some pictures! 

I asked if I could take his picture. His grandmother was holding him, he turned around to look at me...and I snapped a few pictures.

One of the things that I love to paint is relationships. The photo captured that!

I began with a sketch on sanded pastel paper.

I wanted to begin with the lightest parts of the painting. It has always intrigued me that with pastels, you can create skin tones with all the light pastels. I used pink, green, blue, yellow... on the faces and his arm.

Then I began to create the rest of the painting. I got this far and showed it to my art group - they are great critics. 

We all agreed, that even though I had followed the photo, the angle of her arm was awkward and his hand needed work. I also wasn't sure what to do about the background...  I worked on the arm in several different ways. That meant that I had to also redo his pants...I had to make up that part. I tried different colors for background. I do not remember why I thought this would work. Actually, I think I picked up the wrong pastel!

So, lots more tweaking and redefining... changing the angle of her shoulder...finishing his hand...changing his pants some ...and here it is. 

It was a surprise Christmas present. So much fun to watch her open it!

December Sketches - Farewell 2020

 I have not talked to anyone who did not look forward to saying farewell to 2020. It has been a rough year in so many ways. I am grateful for the discipline of a word prompt everyday - it has kept me creative in little ways...and posting each month has been an interesting exercise as I make up ways that the two sketches on each page might be related.  So, here is December:

Give or Receive - Yes, I am still into hands. A hand out to give and one to receive. It is the season...

Librarian and Dragon - As I was thinking about as image for librarian I kept remembering all the SHHH! when I was young. I don't think there is as much of that these days. The dragon, of course, became a cute little tame creature. However, I have seen some librarians become dragons!

Knight and Viking - As far as I am concerned, a knight must be in a suit of armor. I have no idea what a viking looks like but I did find references to the 'tools of his trade.' These two certainly seem related - ready for battle.

Cyclops and Donkey - When I looked up cyclops, I found this little microscopic guy...one eye and a light purple body! The donkey looks a little sad to me. I do not have a clue how these go together - maybe just that they are animals...or both have an 'o' in their name!

Kangaroo and Spaghetti - Someday I would like to see a real kangaroo - can't not think of Winnie the Pooh's friends, Kanga and Roo. A plate of spaghetti...and meatballs...ready to eat. Hmmm, I wonder if kangaroos would enjoy a plate of spaghetti.

Spade and Wobbly - Interestingly, spade was a word prompt a few months ago and I drew a garden spade and a spade that I would see on a card. I needed to do something different so I did several cards with spades. Who (of a certain age) does not remember "Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down"? I guess these are both things you play with...

Sculpture and Pudding - I decided to create my own sculpture. I used to be a woodworker and have always liked 3-D art. I wondered about chocolate pudding, but that's probably too messy. I like the shape and color of this custard. It might be interesting to make a sculptured pudding someday!

Important and Celebration - An explanation point certainly calls attention to important! See? How can you have a celebration without balloons, bubbly, fireworks and streamers? These two easily go together...celebrations are important!

Mozart and Circus - I have seen lots of pictures of Mozart. I did not want to try to draw him...but I could write out some of his music. See if you know the beginning of this piece. When I was growing up in rural Illinois, the circus came to town in the summer. It was thrilling to go into the big tent and see the circus acts. I do not remember ever hearing a Mozart piece played at the circus... or ever hearing that Mozart attended a circus...

Talisman and Owl - I confess, I had to look up talisman to get some ideas. There were a lot of different good luck charms and symbols on chains referring to various gods. This one had something to do with the sun. I frequently hear owls in our woods. They call to and answer each other. I guess a 'wise owl' wouldn't need a talisman.

Armadillo and Glasses - My college roommate lives in Texas and used to describe the armadillos she saw there. She told my naive husband that the the roads were very hot there and that these creatures had to wear little boots so their feel didn't get burned! I guess if he had been wearing his glasses, or drinking from some, that he might have had two different ideas about that.

Hidden and Cuckoo clock - Have you ever noticed that so many things that we can't find are hidden under the bed? I can't imagine having to listen to a cuckoo clock every hour! Although, we have a ship's clock that chimes 'bells'  - sometimes confusing. Are these connected? Maybe you could time yourself when looking for a hidden object ...or go cuckoo looking!

Mistletoe and On My Mind - It is the season for mistletoe - a standard decoration for December. The prompt for Christmas I found bittersweet. On my mind - I was thinking about past celebrations, being able to be with family and friends -  not 6 feet apart - and this year, having zoom conversations. There was no kissing and hugging this year - but I am thankful for electronic conversations.

Shut and Allsorts - I was going for simple - the eyes are shut. As it turns out, Allsorts are a certain kind of candy. I started to draw all sorts of food and then found images of this candy. I guess you could eat all this with your eyes shut. Is it true that if you eat with your eyes shut, you don't consume any calories?

Tortoise and Tuba - There are so many tortoise images... I had fun with this guy...fat little legs and all. When I thought of tuba, I was picturing the marching band instrument. What I discovered is that is actually the sousaphone (which is of the tuba family). Who knew? These go together? Probably the tuba would be the instrument to play a tortoise walking. Certainly not the piccolo!

Ice cream and Fireworks - These seem more like the 4th of July than New Year's Eve... Where we live it's a little nippy to eat ice cream! Although...ice cream is good anytime. Fireworks are fun for lots of occasions. There are plenty of weddings around here - we hear fireworks on many weekend evenings! So, we are celebrating the end of 2020 with fireworks and ice cream. 

Happy New Year!