Skip to main content

30 Dogs 30 Days - Blue

This is Blue, and he joined our family last last summer. This little guy owns me completely. We're not entirely certain of Blue's story, since he's a rescue, but he's found his forever home with us.

It didn't take long after Blue moved into our home for him to make himself home on my easel, too. He's been painted numerous times, and will be painted numerous more, I dare say.

Over the years I've discovered that there's so much more to painting a portrait than capturing a likeness. Truly wonderful portraits don't just fill a spot on the wall - they step into our hearts. When I add elements of emotion to a portrait, the piece elevates into a conversation between the subject and the viewer. It's as if the painting is alive, even if it's not painted photo representationally. Particularly if it's not, perhaps. Blue's portrait above is an example of the marriage of likeness and emotive content - it transcends either to become something bigger.

I ask those of you who are artists - how might you infuse your work with emotional content? what elements can you introduce - non local color, gesture, symbols, text, edge manipulation, pattern, value shifts - my list could go on. Take an older painting (it's only paint!) and play with some of your ideas. See how you can transform your original likeness into something else altogether.

Warmly, Kim
Labels:

Comments

  1. Bernadette11:12 AM

    Kim, I want to thank you for inspiring me years ago, first, to design monthly downloadable calendars featuring my feline artwork, and later my nature and wildlife artwork. At the time I'd also just begun my daily cat sketches, and living with a house of five black cats I started having fun with local and non-representational color, moving toward abstracts sometimes in pencil and ink. I studied your paintings each day in 2012-2013 and on, and developed a body of innovative feline artwork that I have used in shows and in merchandise I create, imprinting my art onto it somehow. That loosened up my commissioned work and while typically, most people want a standard portrait, a clear memory, now and then they want me to play and I love it. I still study your work pretty much each day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kimberly Kelly Santini11:20 AM

      Bernadette - thank you for this sweet note! I loved seeing your pics - was it via Twitter that we first connected?! I remember painting one of them, too. You have a giant heart, and that shows in your artwork. Keep painting girl - the world needs you!! <3

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Picture Book "A Dog Named Blue" - now available!!

The cover of "A Dog Named Blue," now available from Blurb publishers. When I first painted Amelia I never imagined that she would be re-christened "Blue" and inspire a book. In her defense, Amelia had a number of other partners in crime - animals who's portraits seemed to fall into a specific color category and prompt color-centric names. In typical ADD fashion, my brain started spinning 100mph. What if I turned those muses' paintings into a picture book for animal loving kids? I shared my idea with three friends in the industry, and they eagerly offered their expertise. I am truly indebted to them. Illustrator and author Matt Faulkner and children's book author and literacy expert Kristen Remenar edited an early version of the draft. They suggested key plot/conceptual changes that made it oodles better. Designer Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson worked her magic, pairing the images with perfectly color...
1 comment
Read more

Tabby Kit

"Tabby Kit," 5" x 7", acrylics on a museum quality panel, depicting a tiny little orange striped guy from Morgue File . This painting can be yours for $289, which includes s&h inside the US. And in case you didn't see it, a little doodle of him is also available for sale here . Inquires may come directly to me .  Although it certainly doesn't FEEL like spring here (snow and ice and wind chills, brr!), I can tell that spring is coming. The mercury is rising a wee bit each day and the days are getting longer and brighter. Over the weekend we drove with the moonroof open just to feel the sun's meager and oh-so-very-welcome warmth (although the heat in the car was cranked, too, in the interest of full disclosure!). I wanted to work with spring-like colors today, and this little guy was still on my mind , so I grabbed a small panel and got to work. Of course, I also have Poppy to finish and some changes to make to another po...
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