Paintings With Soul

I wanted today’s painting to be the final installment of “Granny Squares” (from earlier this week), but I’m still working away on it, and the painting is too wet to photograph without lots of glare. Looks like it’ll be a late night, as the deadline for the competition I am aiming for is tomorrow. So I set that one aside for a little bit this afternoon and pulled this one together. I loved the expression of joy on the dog’s face, and the extension of his front leg, and how that bunched up folds of skin and fur across his chest. There’s also some green reflected in his belly, and some nice lavenders rounding out the body. “Play I (Boston Terrier),” 8” x 16”, dog portrait on canvasboard, $160. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . SOLD. Thanks, as always, for looking. And for sharing these paintings with friends and family. Enjoy your weekend! Kim Kimberly Kelly Santini http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/ distinctive pet portraits & 4-legged paintings http://www.paintingadogad...

Meet Shelby, a sweet weimereiner-labrador cross who excels at squirrel patrol. She also makes an excellent couch potato, or so I’ve been told. Of course I was attracted to all the color in Shelby’s coat, as it is a delightful combination of warm rusty shades with blue to lavender highlights. And those eyes – deeply set, kind and intelligent. Shelby was a delight to paint. “Shelby,” 8” x 16”, acrylic dog portrait on canvasboard. SOLD. Thank you and congratulations go out to Bob Kilway and his family for commissioning Shelby’s portrait. Thanks, as always, for looking. And for sharing these paintings with your family and friends, 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

I took a break from the Granny Squares painting to get some work completed on a number of commissions. You see, in addition to these daily paintings , I also do commissioned portraits of specific animals, along with other paintings that I enter in exhibitions across the country. Both of these other sorts of paintings carry various deadlines – perhaps a submission deadline for a particular show, or a birthday or other special event where the portrait is to be unveiled. It’s a constant juggling act, making sure the appropriate paintings are completed in time and delivered to where they need to go. Which leads me to today’s piece. In a perfect world, there is some overlap between the daily paintings and the commissioned portraits. That’s where today’s piece comes in. It was a study done in preparation for a larger painting. I wanted to try some new color combinations for the typical Doberman coloring – black with tan markings – and had some success with quinacridone crimson and indanthro...

I wanted today’s post to reflect a full day’s work, but the power has started flickering again, so I’m going to err on the side of caution, and send something off now. J Continuing the saga of this painting, you can see how I determined the folds of cloth and patterning in the blanket. I also redrew the dog, changing the twist of his legs, and beefing up his cheek and chest where before there had been negative space. During this whole process I have been using brushwork that follows the lay of Finn’s fur. This will create depth and also allow bits of stronger color to bleed through the final upper layers. I’ve also started to pull some of the green of the afghan into the blues of the dog and vice versa. Next I will work on refining my light source, double checking my values, and starting to build up the lower shadows in the holes of the blanket. Promises to be a busy night! More tomorrow. As always, thank you for looking. And for taking the time to share these paintings with friends an...

Due to an area power outage and a dead computer battery, I was unable to post yesterday’s daily painting. I also missed out on a quiet evening in the studio – I had wanted to continue working on this painting. But the plus side is that we got power during the night, and the kids were able to go to school today (much to their dismay!) This is the first installment of several, as this portrait is substantially larger than the studies I’ve been completing. Also I am gearing it towards an exhibition, so it will demand more scrutiny than the usual dog-a-day studies. The working title is “Granny Squares.” The painting is 16x20. It stars my dog, Finnigan, doing the next best thing to Frisbee, which is snoozing someplace he’s not supposed to (like on my great grandmother’s afghan). Actually, I’m piecing photographs of Finn with a live setup of the blanket (he would be in BIG trouble if he really curled up on this one!) – but he does like to sneak onto the big couch cushions when he thinks nobo...

The sun was out for the first time in a few days, which really sent my spirits soaring. After a long walk and some Frisbee with my dog, I was eager to get painting. To make the most of the natural light, I set my board up with 4 different canvases, and started working on a variety of faces. I dug through my references, and the ones that spoke up this morning were all darker colored dogs, with light glinting off their sleek bodies. I wonder why…? Here’s the best of those 4 boards – a Doberman pinscher study. You can see the looser brushwork around the edges of his face – those are some of the initial lines I laid down when drawing him onto the board. Those lines usually get rubbed out as the painting progresses, but today I left them in. They add a sense of energy and movement to the moment. “Doberman Study,” 8x8, dog portrait in acrylic on canvasboard, $80. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . Thanks as always for looking. And for sharing these paintings and the dog-a-day pro...

Today we are rolling through waves of showers and thunderstorms, but the air is warm and the front yard is ankle deep in cold mud. At the risk of cursing the thaw, I do believe spring has finally arrived in lower Michigan! Don’t fear though – I won’t entirely jinx things by packing snowpants and woolen scarves away. Along with the promise of spring, in trots today’s dog-a-day painting, a face radiant with sunshine. This painting is layered with washes of orange and peach, coupled with exuberant brushwork. “Murry (Wheaton Terrier Study),” 6x8, dog portrait in acrylic on canvasboard. Murry’s painting is now part of Karin Fuller’s collection – thank you, Karin, for introducing me to Murry, and bringing his bright grin into the studio during such a gray week. It’s easy to get your own dog-a-day painting – simply send photos to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com , and wait your turn. I’m always looking for tomorrow’s muse. Will it be your dog? Thanks, as always, for looking.And for sharing thes...

While filming yesterday, I was asked about the lessons I learned in specific dog-a-day paintings (I had brought along about 15 of them). That got me to thinking this morning about my specific tasks/goals before I even picked up a paintbrush. I studied my reference photo, and decided to practice the following: I wanted to paint reflected light and color off a dark surface. I wanted to play with edges, using sharper ones near the focal point (his face), and softer, blurred edges in the remainder to the painting. Again to emphasize the focal point, I would place all the color and the strongest contrasts in the face. “Terrier Study”, 5x7, dog portrait in acrylic on canvasboard. Inquiries can come to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . Thanks, as always, for looking.And for sharing these paintings with friends and family, Kim Kimberly Kelly Santini http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/ distinctive pet portraits & 4-legged paintings http://www.paintingadogaday.com/ come. si...

Similar to yesterday’s painting, today’s hound mix is full of expressive color and brushwork. I am especially fond of the adoring gaze in this painting. I also like how the brightest bits of blue skip from his nose, to his eye, down to his ear, and back around again. “Hound Profile Study,” 4x8, dog portrait in acrylic on canvasboard, $60. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . Now I am off to Margot’s Gallery ( http://www.margotsgalleryframe.com/ ) to make a short film about my artwork. She is doing this with all the artists she represents. It promises to be a fun afternoon, and I’ll be sure to share the footage with you once we’re all edited down. Thanks, as always, for looking at my paintings. And for sharing them with your friends and family. 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.caninear...

Today’s piece is all about color. I wanted to play with color today, so chose to paint a tri-colored terrier. Their wiry fur lies close to pink skin, and the tan and black markings shift from orange to blue to green to violet. I simply loaded my brush and had at it! The image does no justice at all to the juicy detail in this painting – this little fellow is laughing, full of life, and ready for spring. Come to think of it, I’m feeling a little giddy myself at the promise of some sunshine. “Jack Russell/Parsons Terrier Study,” 6”x12”, acrylic dog portrait on canvasboard, $90. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . SOLD. I owe a special thanks to the “Dog Lady” for applying her distinctive voice to an article on the Dog-a-Day project, which you can see (along with many other entertaining canine related reads) on her site http://www.askdoglady.com/ . Thanks, as always, for looking. And for sharing these dog paintings with your friends and family. Cheers to the last day of winte...

Smoky tipped fur is fun to paint. Typically the shadows or deeper colors are at the roots of the fur. But when a dog has a thick coat of dark tipped fur, the rules are reversed. And I love getting to break the rules! Again, I used a different blue than my typical pthalo – this time indanthrone – which created some beautiful ochres and greens. I think it’s also fairly obvious that I enjoyed the brushwork, too. My original intent was to add falling snow, and tip his nose with some, but I felt like the surface was busy enough. I’ll save that idea for another painting….. “Shepherd Mix Puppy,” 5x7, acrylic pet portrait on canvasboard, $60. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . Congratulations and thank you to new collector Brenda Dale for her purchase of yesterday’s boston profile. Thanks, as always, for looking. And for sharing these paintings with friends and family. The dog-a-day circle is growing, and I’m thoroughly enjoying getting to know my readers and their companions. Happ...

Here’s another old friend, a grizzled Boston Terrier profile. I have been working on this one in small chunks of time over the last couple of days, lying down layers and layers of blues and violets in the shadows. The dog has a very beautiful depth to his coat (which is best appreciated in person – the digital image is flat and dull in the shadows), and despite his age, is just as sturdy and solid as ever. “Boston Terrier Profile,” 4x8, acrylic pet portrait on canvasboard, $60. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . SOLD. Now I’ve got to do some preparations for a children’s drawing class I’m leading at our library this evening. The participants are to bring along their favorite stuffed animal, special toy or action figure. I’m off to dig my old Raggedy Anne doll out of storage. Thanks, as always, for looking. And for sharing these dog paintings with your friends and family. Kim Kimberly Kelly Santini http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/ distinctive pet portraits & 4-legged p...

For the last 6 months or so I’ve been using pretty much the same 5 tubes of paint, give or take a daub here and there of something different. This is completely opposite the manner in which I used to work, with 30 different pots of paint scattered across my taboret. Classes and conversations with a number of other artists convinced me to pare things down, and get to know some of the old standby’s a little better. I’m not sure whey, but today I felt the need to switch up my palette, and swapped my regular blue and red for two new ones. I immediately felt a little outside my comfort zone – I didn’t realize how much I had taken my old friends Pthalo Blue and Cadmium Red for granted. But I thought Prussian Blue would give me an inkier edge to the black markings on today’s border collie, and it did. “Border Collie Study,” 4x6, acrylic dog portrait on canvasboard, $60. Please send all inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . SOLD. Thanks, as always, for looking. And for sharing these d...

From one extreme to the other. Yesterday’s dog was an old faithful companion, and today’s is just a little sprite of a thing. I am preparing to paint a lifesize portrait of this bundle of fur, and in the process have done several sketches and dog-a-days (see February 27th’s dog). I’ve determined my palette, and now it’s just a matter of nailing down an expression (each puppy face is so darned tender, that’s not a simple task!). “English Shepherd Study II (Cheerio),” 4x5, dog portrait on canvasboard, $50. As with the other painting of Cheerio, I will hold onto this piece for reference until the larger portrait is done, but I will start a list, should anyone be interested. Inquiries can always come to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . SOLD. Thanks, as always, for looking. And for sharing these paintings with your friends and family. Kim Kimberly Kelly Santini http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/ distinctive pet portraits & 4-legged paintings http://www.paintingadogaday.com/ come. sit. ...

Today’s piece is a tribute of sorts to our faithful old companions. You know the ones. Their tails wag a bit more slowly than they used to, the hips no longer wiggling in synch. They groan a little when they scramble to their feet, but they are always willing to go for a walk. Their eyes are clouded and out of focus, yet they still follow your movements. Their chin rests a bit more heavily on your knee than before, but they find the same pleasure in a quiet ear rub. “Old Friend (Border Collie Study),” 8” x 8”, acrylic dog portrait on canvasboard. This painting isn’t for sale - I’ve offered it to a friend in the hopes that it captures the spirit of her much loved Maggie. And a big thank you to my father, who despite having a gazillion of my paintings already, now officially has a gazillion and one. He’s taken Cooper’s painting, the Brittany Spaniel study from last Friday, and added it to his collection. Thanks, as always, for looking. And for sharing these paintings with your friends an...

It’s Friday and the sun is shining, both which influenced my choice of dog today. He had to be laughing. So here is Cooper, one of my father’s brittany’s, and a favorite model of mine. Cooper’s mask stretches right down to his muzzle, which always leads to nice violets and pinks in that area. And his wide blaze frames that backlit profile nicely. “Brittany Study II,” 5x7, dog portrait in acrylic on canvasboard, $60. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . SOLD. I’m always looking for new models to star in dog-a-day paintings. Digital photos can come to me ( ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com ). There’s a lot of events on my calendar in the coming months, and I was planning out entries this morning. I’ve had 3 dog-a-day paintings juried into various exhibitions already this year - I would love to showcase your dog in such a fashion! Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions at all. Thanks, as always, for looking. And for sharing these dog paintings with friends and famil...

Here’s the painting I mentioned last Friday when I painted Kermit (the little terrier). In this piece I had intended to focus on the dane’s lips, their pendulous quality while he and Kermit touched noses, but it wasn’t meant to be. The scale of this piece was such that it became more about the dog’s shapes, the positive and negative space. I’ll have to save the lips for a larger piece!! That’s one of the beauties of this project – I’m learning about details and composition - what works on a smaller scale, and what elements can be accented on a larger piece. I’m also learning how to work on the fly – if something isn’t coming together, to let it go, and follow the spirit of the painting and let it teach me something new. “Pleased to Meet You (Great Dane and Terrier),” 8” square, double dog portrait on canvasboard, $80. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . SOLD. Thanks, as always, for looking. And for sharing these paintings with friends and family. Kim Kimberly Kelly Santini ...

I have always been drawn to my subject’s eyes. I cannot explain why – something pulls me into their gaze, and I cannot extricate myself. The husband of the first artist I ever studied with recently told me his wife commented on that same fact – that even when a child I used the eye as a means of illustrating the animals’ character. To me the eye is a simple pairing of lines and shapes – the curve of the lids, the depth of the pupil. Then you get the reflection off the curvature of the eyeball and just a flicker off the lid or lashes. But the best part of all is the color, all the color, in the eye itself. I love to saturate the deepest color here, lay purples against oranges, put a splash of green next to a hint of red, just let my palette go a little crazy when it comes to the eyes. So tonight I did a little bit of that with a pair of retriever eyes. The model was a chocolate lab, but I think that part is secondary to the gaze itself. “Retriever Eyes,” 6x6, acrylic painting on canvasb...

What a busy, busy day this has been, full of a varied and delightful cross-section of inspiration. My morning kicked off with a consult and photo shoot starring a precious little Siamese kitten (CoCo’s portrait will be forthcoming – you can watch for her on the wet paint page of my website – http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/ ), and ended with my daughter, aka Little Miss Muffet, leading off her kindergarten’s musical production of Mother Goose (those “baa-baa-black-sheep” would have made the most darling painting!). So tonight’s painting is getting sent off a little later than usual, and also mirrors how I feel as I sit here typing. This is KC, a basenji portrait, 4x6, acrylic on canvasboard. KC’s painting was a commissioned portrait, and is already getting prepped for shipment. Thanks, as always, for looking. And for sharing these paintings with friends and family. Kim Kimberly Kelly Santini http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/ distinctive pet portraits & 4-legged paintings http://w...

Last spring I was happily involved in a live painting demonstration at a local street fair when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the most interesting dog amble by. I quickly popped my brushes into a cup of water, grabbed my camera, and followed the dog (and his family). Turns out Boomer is a labradoodle, one of those “gourmet” dog crosses, part Labrador retriever part poodle (I just got a commission for a puggle – a pug and beagle mix). But he oozed personality, and the light off his fur was quite luscious (I don’t expect you to understand this part unless you are an artist). My excitement must have been infectious - the family gladly allowed me to take a number of photos (thank you!), and despite 100 pounds of good intentions, until today, that was as far as I got with Mr. Boomer. I still want to paint him larger – really play off that interesting fur texture, and all the blues and lavenders apparent in his coat – but for now, this study will have to suffice. I did the underpaintin...

I’m often asked where I find my models. Honestly, I see them every day, getting walked around town, playing at the Bark Park, patiently waiting in a car. I also try to go to various dog-friendly events, especially in the warmer months. Having a digital camera on hand makes it a lot easier when I do spy a potential muse….. although I have been caught without my camera and in desperation slipped a business card underneath someone’s windshield wipers. Today’s dog is Kermit, a terrier mix I met at an adoption fair last summer. I snapped probably 2 dozen pictures of his precocious face. His wirey little body and moustache seemed very humorous. He had a lot of spunk – you’ll see another version of Kermit next week, introducing himself to a great dane. I’m certain the real Kermit has wormed his way into someone special’s heart. Meanwhile, the painted version is a 4x6 canvasboard, and can be yours for $50 (that’s a lot less expensive than the real thing, and easier to clean up after, too!). In...

I love the attitude inherent in little dogs. They are just so full of vinegar. This little guy won’t budge an inch, even though his rheumy eyes are a little clouded with cataracts. He’s used to powering his way around, despite his size. “Pomeranian Study,” 4x6, acrylic dog painting on canvasboard, $50. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . SOLD. Thanks, as always, for looking. And for sharing these paintings with friends and family. Stay warm and dry tonite – it’s nasty cold and miserable around these parts, 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