I have some advice for my fellow painters. When you finish painting for the day, place your painting where your dog can not reach it.
When I finished painting the other day, I set my painting near the window in my living room, in the same place I have put it every time I have worked on it. I came home today and discovered that one of my dogs, probably Hooch, has pierced the canvas with his claws. He must have seen something outside and jumped up on the windowsill, at exactly the place where my painting was resting next to the wall. You can see the damage in the pictures.
I guess I will be starting over…
These are images from my clown painting. It was going pretty well. I’ll be starting over.This is Hooch (the big brown one laying on top of my husband) on a day that he WASN’T trying to chase something out the window.
Lately, I have joined several Facebook groups for artists, and always enjoy it when they show their process for working on a painting. Some artists, especially pastel artist, start at one side of the paper and paint the picture from one side to the other. Others put paint on all parts of the paper, and work on parts all over the picture at once. This is more my method. I like to work on the background at the same time as the rest of the picture so that the colors all work together to make a cohesive painting. I also enjoy seeing pictures of other artists’ studios, and I thought that today I would show you my favorite place to paint. I have a designated room in my house for painting and sewing, but I usually end up painting in the living room. My favorite place to paint though, is on my deck. I love it out there when the weather is nice. Bugs are bad sometimes, so I always light a citronella candle to try to keep them away. Usually it works. The only thing this studio is missing is that it isn’t on the water, like a lake or river. Maybe someday…
The painting I am working on in the picture is one in which I am trying something new. Most of my portraits lately have been either watercolor or pastel. This one is an acrylic one, and I have been using a glazing technique that I haven’t used before with acrylic. Glazing means painting a lot of thin transparent layers to create the finished product. It’s been fun! I am also working on a watercolor commission portrait and it is going well, but I can’t show that one yet!
Well, we have made it through over a month of being locked down at our houses due to COVID-19. I know it has been very hard for some people, especially those outgoing folks who are energized by being with bunches of people. For me, I’m not minding it too much. I am getting used to making my own work schedule, finding time to paint, and spending time with Dale and the dogs. As long as I can go to the mailbox everyday and take a little drive and then come back, I’ve been fine. I’m hoping it stays that way.
The first picture below is one of the paintings I have finished since we have been home. It is a sweet little pastel painting of two of the puppies we had a couple years ago. We acquired a stray dog that turned out to be pregnant, so we ended up with a litter of puppies. We gave away all the puppies except Brutus, the black puppy in the picture. In the painting, I took some artistic license and changed the colors of the dog bed and background to blue, and cropped the pose just a little bit. The second picture is the original reference photo before I cropped it. (Please excuse the white fuzz on the rug. These wild little dogs were worn out from pulling the stuffing out of something.) The third photo is a more recent picture of Brutus. He’s still wild sometimes. Notice the yellow fuzz he has pulled off of his tennis ball!
This month, I have been working on pastel portraits of two of our beautiful granddaughters. The first portrait is finished and shown below. I have been working on her sister, which is going okay. It is looking pretty much like her, but I am not really happy with the size of her face in the other painting and I’m not sure the portraits will look good hanging together. I may end up starting over… Sometimes, it’s like that.
My online store has some wonderful gift ideas for your friends and family. If there is something you are looking for and can’t find, please let me know. I may be able to make it for you!
If you have ever thought about getting a custom, commissioned portrait of a special person or pet, now is a great time! Just send me a message here on my website, or email me at jjohns73@yahoo.com.
I truly hope you and your family are doing well and are healthy. Please take care of each other and let those you love know it!
