Happy New Year!

Here's wishing everyone a wild and crazy New Year!!

Back on Track

Merry Christmas!! I hope the holidays were good to all out there :-)

While were besieged by a violent stomach flu, (which went through the family) and a bad case of "community acquired pneumonia" we still managed to enjoy a lovely, albeit quiet, Christmas with friends and family. I hope everyone out there was able to do the same, but without the illnesses!

Back to art!

"TREUE" German Shepherd - NFS
Commissioned Portrait • 11"x14" coloured pencil/watercolor

In the coming weeks I will be posting some of the Christmas commissions I had this year, plus progress reports on my entries for some upcoming shows, which all have January and early February deadlines. So without further ado, here is TREUE, a stunning GSD that I painted. The final portrait is shown with the original sketch at right. Enjoy!

Copper Gaze

"COPPER GAZE"
5"x5" original watercolor painting on Arches board

Here is my latest small auction painting. It is loosely based on our fist cat, who was a marmo and white semi-longhaired boy and he was beautiful!
I love how the intense look turned out in this piece; Cats are wonderful at holding that focused look when something grabs them...

This painting is available for $50.00 plus $6.00s/h.
Please contact me if you are interested.

WIP - Border Collie

WIP - Border Collie
4"x6" watercolor on Arches HP paper

I'm here, I'm here!...
I've just been trying to finish off my Christmas commissions, which I can't post until later, and I have very little 'extra' painting time, which explains my lack of blogging activity.
This WIP (work in progress) piece is a small collie painting, watercolor. Lovely happy girl (sorry about the lack of eyes...). It may be available, I have one customer who is waiting for the final before they commit to the purchase, so check back in the next few days to see the finished piece.
I am also starting another cat painting, and I hope to have it up on ebay by the end of the week. I would like to be faster, but I still have my Christmas shopping to do!!

Thirty Horses, Thirty Days

Thirty Horses, Thirty Days, Copyright Linda Shantz

I'd like to spotlight a fellow equine/canine artist today; Linda Shantz is a wonderful artist that lives not far from me here in Ontario and we've known each other since the CAEAS days.

She recently set up a challenge for herself ; painting 30 small equine oil paintings in as many days and has done a marvelous job! She even painted through a bad cold, still producing work, unlike some of us (ahem!) who take to their beds when ill... (I must interject here, that she has many horse hugs to bolster her spirits whereas I don not. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it :-D)

Surf on by to check out her body of work at Thirty Horses, Thirty Days. And yes, some of them are for sale!

Oreo

"Oreo"
7" x 10" mixed media on watercolor paper

Since getting over the flu, I have been quite busy finishing up a bunch of Christmas commissions. I can't show all of them just yet, but here is one that is a pre-Christmas gift.
This is Oreo, a beloved pet who has crossed over the rainbow Bridge. This portrait was a bit of a challenge in that the available photo was quite small. I'm pretty pleased with the result, however, and I hope the client will be as well :-)