Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Maggie the Bloodhound


"Maggie"

11" x 14"
watercolor

Maggie the bloodhound was commissioned as an anniversary gift.  The couple is celebrating their 14th wedding anniversary and the  traditional gift was ivory, since deemed unethical, so now it's just animals.  As Maggie is their beloved pet, a portrait was the perfect choice. I just love how regal she looks!

If you are interested in a custom pet portrait of your dog, send me an email at cindymcd73@gmail.com.  I'd love to paint your pup!





Days 3 through 16...

The past 2 weeks have been very busy with getting the kids back to school and fall sports schedules, and me catching up with all the housework that I neglected while they were home over the summer.  So I have been painting daily, but not posting here on the blog... so here is a shot of days 3 through 16.



I have been jumping around from drawing from photos to drawing from life, enjoying both.  I just need to remind myself to slow down at the start of a piece and have a clear idea of my intent, being mindful of each mark I make, no matter the medium or style.  This is an experiment of sorts and I need to give it my all to actually get anything out of it.  Here's hoping the last half of 30 days brings me closer to my goal.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Day 2

Day 2


Stopping here on this one. That is always the struggle for me, knowing when to stop. But I liked this point of the painting and also ran out of time... So here is Day 2!

 initial pass...


final


* the colors are wonky as I work out some technical issues!*


30 paintings in 30 days, September 2015 Edition




Day one! 

September 1st started my new project, 30 portraits in 30 days. I find working in series to be very productive for me and so I jumped at the chance to sign up for Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.  I've decide to stick to portraits because that is something I love and have always wanted to improve on. For now I'm sticking with monochromatic watercolor because I feel working out he drawing is hard enough with out throwing color into the mix... Maybe as the month goes on I will feel more comfortable and break into more color.  I intend to at least do one sketch in my book everyday, and then more on days when I have more time ( like when E starts school next week).  I liked how this one was coming along before I tried to add in more details...

but I thought it got weird when I did...

Either way, it doesn't have a likeness, which is what really bothers me.  So, I keep trying!

My 100th day


My 100 Day project was complete on August 19th, but the end of August was so busy with the kids that I am just now getting to reflect on it...and I've already moved on to a new venture!  But before I talk about that, I thought I'd talk a bit about my 100 days.
Starting on May 1st, I painted in my sketchbook every day (missing a few) for 100 days, all dogs.  This was such a great learning experience and I'm so glad I stuck with it.  Committing to a single subject-dogs, medium-watercolor, and format-sketchbook, eliminates the "what will I paint today?" And just gets me started painting which is the hardest part. Most days I would end up doing more than that first sketchbook painting, whether it was working on a commissioned pet portrait or just working on more sketches. I would jump around with my approach, ( pencil sketch first then carefully layered watercolor, or jumping right in with washy gestures) but at least I always knew where to start.  This experience made me so much more comfortable working with the watercolor, as well as with the subject matter.  Now I'm going to try and apply this to portraits (people portraits) which is my first love.  I struggle with them, but I know it's because I want so much to be able to express my view. Hopefully committing to doing 30 portraits in 30 days will help me get closer!