Skip to main content

Life Lessons, Step I


"Life Lessons," a new painting in process, 8" x 10," Golden Open Acrylics on 3/4" Ampersand Museum Panel. Inquiries (including booking your own pet portrait, from miniature size [4" x 4"] to larger than life) may always come to me.

Today was full of business and planning and did NOT include easel time, much to my dismay - I simply ran out of minutes! But the painting above is one I blocked in a few weeks back, so I figured what better time to share it than tonite?

What did I work on today?

Well, planning has begun for the 1000th Dog a Day painting - there will be a fitting celebration for the creation of this milestone piece.

I also worked on my lesson plan for a Visiting Artist stint at an elementary school next month (collaged multi-media pet portraits!), and began the organization and coordinating involved in my next solo show (at least 20 new paintings created specifically for this exhibit).

I cleared off my desk and caught up on email correspondance (neither of these tasks no small feat!), drafted out my Winter Newsletter, participated in a fascinating tele-conference about blending creativity and business, and managed to squeeze in a few minutes of lingering in the art section of Borders during the Princess's ballet class.

Now I'm off to sip a kalua while enjoying a few more chapters of Joe Fig's Inside the Painter's Studio (I highly recommend this book for all working artists!!).

Tomorrow, I paint! (I've got to choose between a harlequin Great Dane, a wonderful Husky, and a goofy and loveable chestnut horse, all of which should be finished by the end of this week. And then there's this painting, which beckons me to finish it. And my piece from yesterday, which I now have a plan for correcting thanks to a mentor's guidance. Ah, so many choices, so little time!!)

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

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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

“Katie’s Moustache,” 6x12, pet portrait in acrylic on canvasboard, $90. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . One glimpse of Katie’s face, and I was hooked. Not only did she fall into my beloved “black & white” category, but she came with a full moustache and doe-like eyes. I first covered the canvas with a variety of blues and purples, using a (mixed) light green and pink for the highlights. (Right now my palette has been expanded to include the following: pthalo blue red, azurite hue, cad red dark, alizarine crimson, cad yellow dark, and then for graying/hazing out I use light green yellow and ultramarine purple.) I lighten with titanium white and darken with one of the blues and a touch of one of the reds. As a side note, at this time last year I was really struggling with my limited palette (I went from about 60 pots of paint to 3), but I have lived the benefits – I am so much more familiar with what I can mix given just this handful of colors. My paintings are also m...

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...

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...