Lots of News!!

It has been a very busy week!

First exciting news.... I am now showing my work at a lovely art gallery in Southern Pines, NC. It is called Vineland Fine Art Gallery and their website is http://www.vinelandfineartgallery.com/

Here are a couple of new oils that will be at the gallery. A Dark Horse is 16 x 20" oil on canvas, and Proud Sheltie is 16 x 20" oil on gessoboard. There will be several other pieces there as well, including some of my little plein air paintings.

Speaking of plein air paintings, I have been having so much fun lately going out "in the field" to paint. I have been to the new greenspace park in Cameron, NC, painting in my own yard, and I just spent a couple days in Virginia where I did some painting as well. I visited a friend who lives in the Shenandoah Valley and it is SO beautiful there I can't wait to go back and spend more time with my easel.

And to top it off, the painting featured in the last several posts has been SOLD.

The finished painting

Really got busy today and finished up the painting. I worked mostly on the lying down dog, did a few touchups on the sitting dog, put a glaze over the pillow with the picture on it to tone it down a bit and deepened the shadows on the sofa behind the dogs. I photographed it and then found a frame to fit just to see how it would look framed. I hope you have enjoyed seeing the progress and results and I have enjoyed sharing it.

Getting there is half..or all... the fun

It is definitely coming along now. The sitting whippet is pretty much done and I have done the basic block in on the lying down whippet. I've photographed the whole painting and a detail of the sitting whippet. Tomorrow is Sunday and I plan to paint in the studio for most of the day so tomorrow should have another update.

Whippet painting is coming together

Here are two photos of todays progress. The top photo shows where I was around noon, worked on the blanket and pillows, then had to take a break. Went back to after lunch and added the binding to the blanket and got a lot of one dog blocked in. He needs more detailing but got the basics down. The color in the bottom photo is more accurate than the top one.
I did miss one day of working on this piece..... went out in the field and did a couple small plein air landscapes.

More on my work in progress

I got a lot done today and finally reached a stopping point. The sofa was a battle and I am not quite done with it. Had to change the grey shade of the wall behind it slightly and worked on the painting and frame, as well as the pillows. I am trying to take my time on the background and get it right before I do too much on the dogs, but hopefully tomorrow I will get some done on the two whippets as well. Now it is off to mow the yard... so hot but it needs to be done.

I hope to spend most of today working on this painting, I did get a little done on it yesterday and the progress is shown here. I am working on the background. Got the wall done in shades of grey made with several different colors for a lively appearance, and started working on the painting hanging in the background also. Here's hoping for a productive day today! I am dreading the pattern in the fabric of the silk sofa..... but it will be a challenge.

Work in progress

I would like to share my progress on a new oil painting I have just started. I am sure it will go through many stages of the uglies as I work on it, but hopefully it will turn out well in the end... so come along with me for the ride with all it's ups and downs.

My reference is a photo I took a number of years ago, but it is still as fresh in my mind as the day I took it. The subject is two whippets relaxing in an interior, there is natural lighting which is coming from a window that is not in the picture. I have changed the composition slightly from the photo to make a better painting. First, I drew on tracing paper, and then took it to the local copy shop to enlarge my drawing to fit on the 20 x 24" canvas I will be working on. I then transfered the drawing to my canvas with graphite paper. Next I redrew the entire composition with a lot more detail directly on the canvas and spayed it with workable fixative. That is what you see in the first photograph. My next step was a thin coat of acrylic paint to tone the canvas. I used raw sienna. In the last photo, I have lightly done an underpainting in shades of grey to give it a little volume and to help visualize how the lights and darks will work. Of course it will be much bolder when the actual painting begins.

Two miniatures, just off the easel

Unfortunately, I won't be going to "Greyhounds Reach The Beach", greyhound gathering in Dewey Beach, Delaware this year. So I am working on a series of whippet paintings for the big whippet show I will be attending in the spring. My miniatures have been very popular and I also have several ideas for large pieces.

Here are two whippet miniatures that I just finished this week. The headstudy is 5 x 7", oil on canvas and the other of a whippet with one foot on a rock is 8 x 10", oil on a canvas panel.

Other news: All 4 of the greyhound paintings in the previous post have been SOLD. Many thanks to their new owners.