Skip to main content

Happy Valentines Day!


 
 

 

Thanks to everyone who played along with the Painting a Dog a Day Valentine's Giveaway by sending me photos of their dog, cats, horses and llamas!! This year we had 42 families enter and narrowing the choices down was very difficult. I suppose if this is the toughest my job ever gets, I have it darned easy, right?
 

But meanwhile, the finalists are up!! you can view the top entries in this year's Painting a Dog a Day Valentine's Giveaway on the studio's Facebook page, right here.**
 

I chose images that made me ache to paint them - some may seem obvious for their sense of humor or dramatic lighting, others perhaps only I can see the potential - but the common thread in all these references is that they touched my creative core.

 
So one of these photos will be the inspiration for tomorrow's Valentine's Day painting.

 
And that painting will shortly be winging it's way to the muses' home - this is the annual occasion where I gift a painting to one lucky fan!

 
Who do you think it will be? Log into Facebook and leave a comment on your favorite image. I will not be swayed by popular choice, although it will be fun to read which images are your favorites and why!

 
Here's to a fabulous week!!
Kim

 
**My apologies in advance for the large copyright notices I placed on the finalists' photos. Too many people claim ignorance of copyright law and are pirating photos found on Facebook and the internet, using them for their own purposes. As these photos were subimted specifically for Dog a Day portrait consideration and not the general public's use, I wanted to make certain that even though I shared them via Facebook, I also protected each photographer's copyright with a watermark. Thanks so much for your understanding!
 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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

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