Skip to main content

“Scottie Study (Marley Jo),” 6” x 12”, Scottish terrier portrait in acrylic on canvasboard, $80. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com .

SOLD.

As I often do, when prepping for a larger painting, I find myself working certain issues out on a smaller scale. The dog-a-days are the perfect platform for just such exercises, which is what today’s painting is.

Meet Marley Jo, a delightfully sassy bundle, despite having had surgery a week prior to our meeting. While my client is considering whether a simple portrait of Marley Jo will suffice, or to add a second grinning face to her painting, I’m busy “simmering” ideas here in the background. (By the way, she does get first dibs on this painting, but being as I haven’t heard back from her yet today….. not everyone is as attached to their computers as I am!!)

So today I wanted to work out my palette. Marley has black fur, but if I painted just with tube black I’d get a flat and terribly uninteresting surface. (Here’s a quick exercise – the next time you see a black object, really stop and study it, and see if you can’t pick out all sorts of violets and blues masquerading there).

Instead I mixed a dense and deep dark with raw umber, pthalo blue and alizarine crimson. By increasing the amount of blue and red as I tinted the base mixture, I was able to build all those interesting middle values. I had fun playing the with the texture of her fur, too, and laying in the fringes silhouetted against the ground.

On another note, thank you very much to returning client Connie Ciak for purchasing last Friday’s “Goin’ for a Swim.” And welcome to new collector Beth Gordon, who purchased the pit bull study of Dana. Dana was featured in June’s Shelter & Rescue Week, and a donation to the Second Chances Pit Bull Rescue will be made in Beth’s name.

Also I’d like to extend another warm welcome to all the new dog-a-day readers.
Thanks, as always, for looking.
And for sharing these paintings with your friends and family,
Kim



Kimberly Kelly Santini

www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

www.paintingadogaday.com
come. sit. stay.
enjoy the art.

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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear Copyright Thieves

Dear Copyright Thieves,   Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's free for the taking. So let's just stop pretending the internet is a free-for-all.   Don't play the card that you didn't know - that's insulting. And don't also tell me that you meant to follow up and get permission but never got a chance to. That's insulting too. And by the way, don't you have a copyright protection notice on your own site?   And don't even try and point the finger at a third party who commissioned you to make a copy of my painting - again, an insult - you and I both know the difference between a reference photo and a painting.   And don't tell me that I asked for it because I share my artwork on the internet. I share my paintings and ideas and the stories behind them so as to encourage others to pursue  their own passions . I do not share so that those lacking integrity and morals can copy and market the images as their own...
33 comments
Read more

Fisher Price Little People Puppy, Toy #10

"Little People Puppy (Toy #10)," 6" x 6," acrylics on masonite, starring a spunky little spaniel with jointed legs made by Fisher Price This painting is $75, with free shipping inside the US. Purchasing is as simple as  asking . I didn't play with this particular version of Little People toys, but I find them very sentimental never the less. They are well designed and charming. I tried to figure out what year Fisher Price made these particular jointed toys which I own (via ebay - I have circus characters too!), but got distracted learning about the history of Little People in general. They have seemingly been around for 50+ years! The Little People barn was a HUGE part of my childhood. The barn doors opened with a "mooooo," but in my head I heard welcoming nickers. Those horses and chickens were real. The brown and orange shag carpeting of my parent's family room became lush rolling pastures of green, and the Little People...
Post a Comment
Read more

Golden Open Acrylics

I get all sorts of process oriented questions. Most recently I've been getting asked a lot about my paints and palette, which made me realize what a nice blog topic this would make! I use a Masterson Sta-Wet Premier palette box . This is comprised of a box (think Tupperware) with a sponge liner and a slice of palette paper that work together to keep my paints wet. This setup allows me to work with the same palette for about a full week, having the box open for multiple hours every day. You can see what the palette looks like at the beginning of a new session above - below the exact same palette after this week's work. For the last 25 years I have used Golden brand acrylics, mediums, and varnish. I love the overall quality of these paints and the fact that, when I have a question, their customer service department is made up of artists who actually use the products. Until last year, I used their Heavy Body paints exclusively. They have a buttery consistency, a little loose...
11 comments
Read more