Paintings With Soul

"Kodak & Ella," 11" x 14", acrylics on museum quality panel, commissioned portrait starring two stunning golden retrievers. This painting has a home, but if you would like something similar starring your own family members, please shoot  me  and email. I take on a couple pet portraits each month, but don't always get the chance to share them in my newsletter, since the vast majority of them are gifts and sharing could spoil the surprise. But Kodak and Ella's portrait is heading to a collector who has been involved in the project since the summer. It felt so fantastic to send her the final image via email this afternoon and get an enthusiastic thumbs up in return! It will be even better to hear from her when she's holding this one in her hands, in her own home. If you are interested in commissioning a portrait, I can squeeze a couple more in prior to the holidays. And I can always put together a gift certificate, too, which makes for wonde...

As the   Painting a Dog a Day   project grew, so, too, did my own to-do list. My studio profitability had shifted from larger commissioned works which took weeks to complete to the smaller daily paintings. I was doing 3-5 daily commissions each week, varnishing and shipping them out within days. In between creating/ blogging/shipping each piece, I was fielding emails, perusing reference photos, writing quotes and having conversations with new collectors about their own portraits Each commissioned portrait brought new people into my life, and with that came all the stories inherent with getting to know a pet and what they meant to their family. (Do you know that the vast majority of the animals I paint I never meet?  I rely on email communication and a mess of photos to piece things together.) It was always fascinating, getting a glimpse into others' lives and loves. I think it was 2010 or so when N...

"First Snow," 14" x 18", acrylics on panel, originally $699, special 12 Days of Christmas pricing $609 plus s&h with holiday delivery inside the US. Inquiries may come   to me . The first snow is always beautiful. Magical. Then it gets all slushy and dirty and I want winter to be done with.   Share Tweet Forward Over the next 7 days I'll be sharing some paintings that would make most excellent gifts. These pieces will carry special holiday pricing thru December 15th, 2017. They are one-of-a-kind originals, and once they are gone, they are gone - so please, if you are interested in something, let me know in the timeliest manner possible. Additionally, if you are in southeastern lower Michigan, I'm hosting   a studio Open House in my new space . I've cleaned out my home studio (mostly) of inventory, and there will be lots to see, going back 10 years and more! I'd love to share some holiday...

Above, "What's a Little Mud," 18" x 24" x 1-1/2", acrylics on museum quality panel, depicting a golden retriever who had a darned good time, $2299 (includes shipping and handling to a US address). Detail of the dog's face is below - there's so many different marks and touches of color in this! And this is a cradeled panel, so the image wraps around each of the 4 sides - there is no need to frame (unless you want that visual).  Email me if you would like to to own this remarkable painting - and thank you so much for your interest! Sometimes you do the best you can, but that niggling thought that you could do better won't go away. That's what happened with this painting, which I did back in May . Loved it, but after living with it for a month or so, I felt like there was something off.  Realized after a bit that the muddy legs were too dark and I had some key value jumps that were missing in the composition. ...

Get the Calendar Here You can download the file directly from my website . I've set up a couple different ways to do this, either via the photo album or a direct link. I am not an expert on operating systems, so if you don't know how to change your desktop wallpaper, please don't email me - I will indubitably steer you wrong. Your computer's help files will be more concise, more knowledgeable and more responsive than I could ever hope to be.    I've sized this to fit a standard screen height of 768 - I realize there are lots of variables that could impact how the file displays on your screen. Let me know if, once you get the file installed, there are display quality issues (keep in mind, too, that options such as "stretching to fit," "tiling" and "cropping" will impact your display, so check those first!). Thanks, as always, for following along with my artwork, Kim

A simple 6" x 6" study done in last week's workshop, featuring a Dum Dum lollipop (it IS Halloween, after all!). This exercise was to demonstrate simple blending techniques with acrylics, and to show how to achieve a variety of marks, INCLUDING SMALL ONES (but not brushy-brushy small ones, because those are worst than a firey rash), with a large brush. Inquiries to me , and thank you so much. "Do as I say, not as I do," say's the woman with her paint brush in her mouth and her fingers in the paint And yes, I open paint tubes with my teeth. I have lots of bad habits. But I also have a few gems of knowledge I'm happy to share with those who will listen. Tomorrow is Day Two of our color and brushwork intensive. I'm happy to report there were no tears in Day One, although there was a knitted brow or two and some most excellent questions. And I'm loving having an audience who's interested in talking abo...

View In Process Photos I Want a Portrait Too "Gunther," 8" x 10", acrylics on museum quality panel, a commissioned portrait depicting a delightful gentleman, private collection (THANK YOU!). It's been busy here - unpacking from our week away, catching up on household chores, running kids hither and yon, catching up with emails and studio work, running week two of my online workshop, teaching a new journal class, and packing for next week's trip to Saratoga. Too much coming and going and not enough sitting in front of the easel time. At least that's my thinking! Thanks, as always, for following along with my artwork, Kim

It's been a couple years since I shared my palette system and paint choices, so I figured it was time for an update! Above is a recent photo of a setup from a demo done this fall. The paints have puddled together a little bit due to the car ride/transport, but I think you can get the idea. Pure pigment on the edges, mixtures in the center. And the mixtures are further lumped into a yellow-ish area, an orange-ish area, etc. This helps me keep mixtures clean and bright (if that is what I want!) You'll also see how I mix one mother-puddle and push and pull that into various combinations. I also arrange with lightest values on the left and darkest on the right. My paints always go in the same place and I always use the same colors. This is a Stay-Wet Masterson Palette and I'm using exclusively Golden Heavy Body Acrylics. My colors: Titanium White Naples Yellow Cadmium Yellow Light Cadmium Yellow Medium Cadmium Yellow D...

    "Zzzzzz," from the "Play Ball" series, 10" square, portrait of a golden retriever napping with a ball, acrylics on museum quality panel, $539 to the first asking nicely. Inquiries may come  to me  - please and thank you!   For a limited time (until next Wednesday, July 3rd), prints of "Zzzzzz" are available through  my FineArtAmerica storefront .   In process photos  were shared  and much fun was had by all over on Facebook.   Meanwhile, if you want to see your dog translated to paint, send pics of him/her playing ball  to me! ! (I gotta put in the legal stuff - pics must have been taken by you and by submitting photos you are transferring rights to me only for creating derivative work from said photos and guaranteeing that such rights are yours to transfer.)   Thanks for supporting my artwork! Kim ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com   PSST , I have all sorts of other im...