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On top, "Charlotte," 12" x 14", beagle-mix pet portrait in process, private collection. On bottom, working title "Cat Nap," 16" x 20" cattle dog/blue heeler pet portrait, work in process. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com .

It’s been one of those days where, despite accomplishing a tremendous amount, I do not have a finished piece to show you.

I started out working on Charlotte’s 12x14 portrait (the beagle mix), knowing that if I put another layer of glaze down, I could use the drying time to work on another piece. Which is what I did.

Then, because today is “Take Your Dog to Work Day,” I thought I would paint Finnigan (my cattle dog). But instead of choosing something new, I went back into an older 16 x 20 sized piece (see April 2nd). SIDE NOTE: By the way, this painting did get juried into the Masterpiece Arts show, which ended in May. However, I continued to be bothered by the background and how flat Finni seemed to be, and couldn’t help myself any longer. I opted to paint the afghan out altogether, and slid him onto a braided rag rug instead, which will allow me to put in some bits of color (hooray!), yet I will need to exercise restraint so that the rug does not overwhelm the dog.
Then I went back to Charlotte, and dug deeper into painting her detail.

Then back to Finnigan, when she got too wet to continue working on.

And the dance continued, going back and forth for the bulk of the day. I had planned to take a break at some point and complete a smaller painting, but now here it is, nearing midnight. I never got either of the larger portraits finished, although each piece traveled a great distance today, and I never got started on a little dog-a-day canvasboard.

So you are getting 2 small thumbnails as you token dog-a-day – Charlotte, in progress and close to completion, and Finnigan’s painting with a few value kinks to work out and some additional color to lay in. That will have to suffice until Monday.

Thanks, as always, for looking.
And yes, please share these paintings with friends and family,
Enjoy your weekend,
Kim

PS By the way, Charlotte’s painting is a commissioned portrait and therefore sold. I’m planning on exhibiting the reworked Finnigan in a portrait show this fall, so it will be available for purchase then. If you are interested, please email me at ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com .


Kimberly Kelly Santini
http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

http://www.paintingadogaday.com/
come. sit. stay.
enjoy the art.

Founding member of the Canine Art Guild
http://www.canineartguild.com/
the gateway to canine art on the web

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