Welcome to Painting a Dog a Day

Since October 2006 I've been a daily painter, creating a new pet portrait at least 5 times per week. At first the paintings were mostly dogs, but over the years I've allowed a transgression here and there, and expanded my offerings to include a variety of animals and pets. And yes, I accept commissions! Please join the Painting a Dog a Day community - Sign up using the links at the left to receive the dailies via email or follow the blog with a feed. I post additional info, including in-process jpgs and other related information, on the studio Facebook page as well.

The links above will help navigate through workshops, the commission process, and other options.

Thank you so much for your continued support of my artwork.

Monday, June 14, 2010

MENTOR ~~ Elizabeth St Hilaire Nelson

I spend at least an hour every day looking at artwork in various forms - I have diverse taste and find inspiration in a huge variety of objects. I thought that the Dog a Day community might enjoy seeing some of the things that knock me silly, so decided to periodically share a little brilliance from some of my mentors.

Above are 4 delightful paper paintings by Elizabeth St Hilaire Nelson. I've been stalking her artwork for several years now - I first fell in love with her peacocks and birds, then her cows, and most recently her dogs.

It amazes me how accurately Elizabeth builds form with collage. The subtlety in her values is uncanny, all achieved by careful choice and placement of torn bits of paper. And when you visit her website to see these pieces up closer, you'll also notice the textual content of the papers corresponds with the subject matter.

For artists like myself, who are looking to say more with less brushwork, collaging in this fashion is a great exercise in extracting the important elements of a composition. And yes, it's obvious that my "Rusty" was very much inspired by her technique. (Thanks again, Elizabeth!)

If you are at all interested in the art of collage, I highly recommend her DVD. And her book. And simply studying what she's posted on her website and blog.

What do you think? shouldn't Elizabeth be doing commissioned portraits?

Thanks, as always, for looking at - and sharing - my artwork and musings with your friends and family.
Kim

PSSST :: HAVE YOU VOTED? We're in the homestretch - only 5 days left to tell the world that Painting a Dog a Day should be the newest addition to the Daily Painters Group - so please go here and vote 5 stars. Pretty Please and Thank You!!

TWITTER: ksantini
SHOP ORIGINALS & LIMITED EDITION GICLEES: at my Etsy shop
ORDER CUSTOMIZED NOTECARDS & REPRODUCTIONS: at Imagekind
COMMISSION A PET PORTRAIT: contact me
GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE: contact me
READING MATERIAL: Preview and order each of the Dog a Day books at the publisher's website: The First Year (2006-2007) and That's 14 in Dog Years (2008). If you would like your copy personalized, order them through me.


PLEASE NOTE that all artwork on my website is copyright protected and reproduced with the permission of the author/artist. That's not just the case here, but pretty much everywhere else on the internet too. Ask before taking - I do !!
Posted by Kimberly Santini at 4:20 PM
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2 comments:

  1. Hi Kim, thanks so much for including my Paper Paintings on your blog! I am thrilled with your kindness and generosity. Your blog is wonderful and so is your work, I love the way you infuse so much color into your dogs. I live for color, if you ever saw me in person, you would see that in my fashion sense as well. :) Thanks again for being so generous!

    ReplyDelete

  2. I love your color sense - you introduced me to Fleuvogs! A woman with color sense AND good shoes should never be underestimated!!

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