View Other Recent Sketches "Gracie," painted sketch approximately 4" wide, roughly centered on a 9" x 12" paper, depicting a Goldendoodle, private collection (THANK YOU). After a dozen years of painting mostly commissions, in 2014 I gave myself the luxury of painting mostly for me. It's been a challenge on one very unexpected level. As a portrait painter, my goal was to achieve a likeness and capture some of the subjects' personality. But remove the portrait aspect from the painting, and my message changes. What do I want to say? That's a B.I.G. question. I've traveled quite a ways from my original Painting a Dog a Day challenge - and I appreciate you indulging me as I try on new things. Like dolls. Bunnies. The Emerging series. And some other things, like layering . (Which gets my brain thinking about layered cakes and doing some Wayne Thiebaud inspired art) ...