‘3xWeekly’ Great Dane from Kids for Kids Charity Day

The Kids for Kids Charity Day was fantastic and along with drawing I took some photographs. The owners of the house had a Great Dane and of course pictures were taken. This project took me five days to complete and as usual there are things that probably could be better; however, my 3xWeekly challenge forces me not to be pernickety. Overall I’m happy with the painting and learned a lot from the process. Hopefully this experience will give me the confidence to paint dogs in their surroundings instead of just their faces.

‘Vibrant Acrylics’ Fourth Exercise - a Rose

The fourth exercise 'Paint a flower in fifty brushstrokes' from ‘Vibrant Acrylics’ was completed back at the beginning of September because, as usual, I was impatient.

To do all the exercises in order I’ve repeated the rose painting; this time using bigger brushes and canvas. For some reason, painting shapes isn’t easy for me, especially getting the right perspective.  The second painting looked worse than the first; so I decided to paint over it for a third try.

It took many attempts to get a good photo of the third painting because the texture from the previous one shows through. After looking at them, it seems I may have put too much deep violet in all three. I'll keep trying this exercise until I’m happy with the results... but don't worry I won't bore you with them:))

‘3xWeekly’ Paint My Photo Rooster (or is it a Chicken)

This week’s paintings were just taking too long and the intended painting of a Great Dane couldn’t be finished in time. In order to stick to my '3xWeekly' promise I found a photo that could be completed quickly. The plan was to paint the rooster from Paint My Photo in a loose ‘Vibrant Acrylics’ style. It’s similar to the rooster that I did at ‘All About Art’; I’m really happy with the results and it only took about 2 hours.

'3xWeekly' Marie's Cat Photo

For some reason painting is getting harder and harder.  The size, colour, composition and style are always such difficult decisions for me.  Why isn't it getting easier, this is my 26th pet portrait.  I don't yet have a specific style and each photo presents it's own issues.  Because my time is limited (3xWeekly)... it may just be too much pressure.

This photo was taken from my sister-in-laws Facebook page; Marie loves cats and always takes wonderful photos.  I'm happy with the results, although as usual, I feel it could have been better with more time.

‘3xWeekly’ My Brother’s German Shepherd Dog - Bart

This painting is of my brother’s first dog Bart. I’ve painted him before and had already prepared a black, white & grey canvas to glaze. Planned on finishing this in half a day… ha! It’s been over three weeks and after MULTIPLE glazing layers it’s not finished… but I’m done. With every new layer the portrait changes and could probably do with more light and shade but I’ve truly lost interest.

I’ve included a black and white copy as well. In my opinion it looks nicer, but that’s after adjusting the brightness and contrast.

Life Drawing at Ericaceous Art

Today in my drawing class at Ericaceous Art we concentrated on tone. It has taken me four weeks to have a better understanding of how to draw from a live model. I thought it would be the same as drawing a still life... but it’s definitely not. You have to overcome the fact that you are looking at a nude person and it’s o.k. to stare. Also, live people are larger than objects on a table so it’s a size thing. With a live model you have to draw smaller or move your easel to a position so you can draw what you see. I hope that this is the turning point for me and that I continue to get better.

‘3xWeekly’ A Pastel Dog Image from PMP

Didn’t quite make three acrylic pet paintings this week, but did do a pastel dog portrait. After watching a great YouTube video explaining the different pastels, I decided to buy a set of 64 Inscribe soft pastels. A dog image seemed like the perfect subject to practice with, especially since I didn't have time to do a painting. The results were pretty good, even though there could have been more refinement.  I’d like to take a course working with pastels to learn how to get a cleaner image.

‘3xWeekly’ Cherie’s Sleeping Labrador

This week as usual, I was falling behind on my 3xWeekly pet portraits. Wanting everything to be perfect is a dangerous thing, especially when you’re learning. Anyway, with a shopping addiction and the constant barrage of e-mail from art supply shops, I bought more System 3 Heavy Body Acrylics. With the paint came a free CD from my current favourite artist Hashim Akib. ‘Lay It On Thick Spread It On Thin’ was the perfect inspiration for this painting of my friend Cherie’s Labrador. I spotted the dog's photo a while ago and thought it would make a nice painting; after watching Hashim paint the goldfish it all came together.

‘3xWeekly’ My Friend's Dog - Totoro

My friend posted a picture of her dog Totoro on Facebook and he is absolutely adorable. Hopefully Lynn will think I’ve done an o.k. likeness. I made a few sketches in graphite, then a quick drawing in soft pastel, then another in oil pastel with colour. Although there was a lot of initial prep work, this painting didn’t come easily.

The final portrait was done in acrylic on 8” x 10” board without tracing. There are a lot of things that could be fixed on this painting, but I'm never going to get 3 a week done at this rate.

In hindsight, it might have been better to do a larger painting with less detail…maybe next time.