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“Keefer,” 8” square, black lab mix pet portrait in acrylic on canvasboard. Thank you to Keefer’s family for commissioning this portrait – I thoroughly enjoyed painting his happy face.

This guy has a sincere love of playing ball. So I had to paint him that way, sort of in your face, with a gentle nudge, waiting for the next toss across the yard.

I used multiple photos to piece this painting together – and I must confess, enlisted my Finnigan as a live model. Black dogs are notoriously hard to photograph without a flash, and while I had several good photos of Keefer, none were exactly what I wanted.

So Finn got a ball gently placed in his mouth multiple times, until I could get a sense of how his lips sort of draped themselves. Bless his heart – he was a little confused – and kept dropping the ball to go get his Frisbee. Finally I packed the ball with some peanut butter, made him “sit-stay” for a few minutes, and the world was good again. He happily cleaned it out while draped over my feet as I stood at the easel, and there was peace in the Santini household. (Of course, he did get an extra round of Frisbee later on, too!)

Just a little clarification, too, about yesterday’s collage, which really appealed to a large number of you. There WILL be reproductions of this image available – it’s just a matter of time. I do like to dream, and should the painting actually win this contest (not such a bad dream), the sponsors purchase the original and issue a poster. If it doesn’t make that cut, then I get to retain both the original and the copyrights to make my own prints. I’ve already talked to my Print Guy, and he’s all set to start printing giclees when I give him the go ahead. I promise to post to the group as soon as I have a verdict (which should be shortly after Halloween) – but in either case, prints will be available in time for holiday gift giving.

And a thank you goes out to Myra LeBlanc for purchasing last week’s “Louisiana SPCA #1440” dog tag still life. J

And thanks, again, as always, for making the time in your busy days for my dogs. I truly enjoy hearing how they play into your various routines.
See you tomorrow,
Kim

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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