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What a fun day I had, despite a few “challenges.” The biggest of which was, when unpacking and setting up this morning at the Michigan State Fair, discovering I had forgotten to pack white paint.

It’s a little tough completing a portrait without white paint!!

But I did my best, blocking in three different dog-a-day commissions while taking frequent breaks to talk to fair-goers (the portraits, clockwise from the top, “Remi,” “Spencer,” and “Peyton,” all siblings).

I’ve attached a couple of images, so that you can understand how I set up when doing a demo. It’s not much different than when I set up here in the studio.

I have my easel (this particular one is a Julian Pleine-Air – very sturdy and easy to setup), with a board (just a random piece of masonite) that has the dog-a-day pieces duct taped to it. To the right is my palette, laid out with the same colors (from lower left, in a clockwise configuration, cad yellow dark, alizarine crimson, cad red dark, white (if I had had it, in the upper left corner!), pthalo blue red, azurine blue, (today’s new addition) green gold, and then across the lower edge, ultramarine violet, and light green yellow.

When I do demos, I also include copies of articles and other press items, business cards, and mailing list signup sheets (both snail and email lists). Today I also brought my laptop, and had it running a slideshow of the dog-a-day archives. These items were all set up on the right of the table, which also coincided with the direction of the flow of traffic. It gave me a few moments to see (through the back of my head, because I was painting after all!) when individuals approached, and allowed me to strike up a conversation before they had passed completely.

You can also see one of my larger paintings in the background, “Spot,” the dalmation, peeking back at you over his shoulder. And my trusty right-hand-man, Evan, my 9 year old son, who documented the entire day with approximately 300 digital images (including the walk from the car to the Community Arts Building).

Of course I intended to come home and finish these paintings off, but yet another wave of thunderstorms has hit us, and with the power flickering and more severe rumbles predicted, I’m just going to throw in the towel, curl up with the kids and a bowl of popcorn, and see how much of High School Musical 2 we can make it through (for the 50th time) before we are forced to crack out the flashlights and resort to scarey campfire stories.

Thanks, as always, for sharing these paintings with your friends and family.
I promise a finished one tomorrow – maybe two!
Until then,
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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