Milo's Acrylic Portrait is Complete!

Whew, after a long, hard fought battle with the 36"x36" canvas, I have finally overcome all odds, and am now victorious!

I will let the pictures tell the story for this one. I've compiled all of the progress photos so that you can actually see how the painting took shape over time. And of course, Brandy pitched in at the end.

It was very satisfying to work on a piece this large as the progress was so obvious all the way along ... helps with motivation.

Background and outline first

Under painting - have a lot of ground to cover

Blocking in depth and shadows

Starting to take shape

Highlights, outlines and shadows, he looks like a real dog now

Final highlights and shadows, touch ups on the outlines

Signature, and ahhhh, completion

Apparently it's extraordinarily stressful to pose in front of a painting for me

Productive Weekend

This weekend I spent some time finishing off a portrait, and working on Milo. The portrait has gone to the client for proofing, and I will post an image of it once I hear back. As far as Milo goes, he's really beginning to take shape. Poor guy, it's been a while since I put brush to canvas, but finally this weekend I was able to give him some attention and a bit of personality, so he's really coming along now. It felt good to fiddle with the acrylics again and I'm hoping to have him fully completed in the next few weeks. You can see his progress below:

Fiddling with the basic shadows and highlights

Adding some depth, personality and more shadows and highlights

Brandy and I also took in a CPE agility trial at Acton Agility. It's been a while since we've been on course, but the little dog surprised me and managed to get 4 out of 4 qualifying runs (a little elephant never forgets), and landed herself the Level 4 Standard Title (CL4-R). Lucky for me, she's still got it and probably always will have it. Smart little spoiled bugger.

What a life!

Brandy - The B-Hive, ADC, SGDC, AADC, RN MCL, RPT, CL2, CL3 CL4-R, HIT Agility JRTRO Trial 2009, JRTCC SGD

More Milo Progress

Continuing on with my giant Milo portrait (whilst watching foggy olympic mens slalom in HD - wow, the fog is so ... um, crisp), I've added some heavier blocks of colour, tones and shadows. Looks like I've covered almost all of the canvas and am now ready to get down to some larger detail. This colour doesn't really reflect his true coat yet, but with more layers I will build upon that. He's really beginning to take shape though - so far so good.

After my two and half hours in front of the canvas today, I decided to take a break from the acrylic fumes, go for a walk and then continue reading my current, multi-times read (yes I re-read over, and over and over), Dean Koontz novel.

Upstairs, on the bed with Brandy, reading away in my own little world, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. It turns out that either hubby did not close Mr. Chameleons cage door very well or the little bugger is damn smart and uses his oven mitt hands rather well. He decided to take it upon himself to exit the cage and go for a jaunt around the master bedroom, while Brandy was observing. I'll admit, it scared the hell out of me for a second to see a colourful, free-range lizard crawling up the bedspread near my face. Just a for a second mind you, he's really just a harmless little fella who thinks he's tough. Thank God I have a well behaved little dog who wouldn't dare lay a tooth on the chams. But had that been a cat or some furry creature crawling around my bedroom, I'm sure the outcome wouldn't have been as pleasant or bloodless.

I don't have a clue how long he'd been wandering, but he's been returned home now, with the cage secured (and double checked), heating up under his lamp. He really does like to come out and enjoy our company, but I'd prefer that he did it on our time, not his.

Milo Painting Progress

I got down to business today on this expansive painting, and was able to create a very subtly patterned background and block in colour on Milo himself (whislt watching the olympic mens ski-cross event - awesome!).

So far I enjoy working at this much larger size than I am used to. Though there is, of course, a lot more canvas to cover, at this size I am able to be a little more free with my brush strokes, and have found that I'm using less paint than what I thought I would.

So here is the background with a bit of patterning, which I toned down in the previous step as I found the colours were too harsh. I didn't want the pattern to take away from the dog, so I reduced it by over-painting with the original solid background colour (the lighter of the stripes).

And here is Milo beginning to take shape. I've blocked in most of the basic areas so that I can determine the darks from the lights and shadows.

So far so good, and I am already pleased with how the progress is coming along.

And now, I must take the dogs out and prepare myself for the Canada vs. US mens olympic hockey. I don't know if I'll be able to handle it, the suspense is killing me. Go Canada Go!!

Biggest Painting to Date!

A friend that I met through agility trials has given me the opportunity to created the largest piece that I've ever done to date. It will be a 3 foot by 3 foot acrylic painting of her beautiful Vizsla, Milo, and what a sweetie he is.

I will be documenting the progress of this painting (Hopefully. I'm so bad at the documentation process - I get carried away and forget to take pictures, which I suppose isn't a bad thing, but it hampers my record of progress on certain pieces) on this blog. 

I thought I'd share two initial images, one showing the size of the canvas, the other showing the initial under-drawing.

Yes, that is me and Brandy attempting to show you just how big this piece will be. Three by three, well sure, I could use a ruler and figure out approximately what I was going to be delving into, but when you're a short person, with a short dog, you really get some perspective when you can handle the canvas in person, and take a picture of yourself (or your little dog) beside it. She's a big one!

This sketch may not be overly visible (you've got to look really hard to see it, and I mean really hard), but I wanted to add it in for progress purposes. Not being able to scan a 3 foot document really hindered the image quality as the camera just can't capture the lighter lines of pencil like the scanner can.

I've had to now designate my laundry room as the "painting room" for this piece since the spare bedroom, where I normally work, just isn't accommodating the overly large canvas (the bed and dresser seem to be in the way).

So stay tuned to this blog for more progress updates on the painting of Milo. This should be a great experience, and will hopefully encourage me not to be afraid to "go larger" in the future.

Digital Drawing

Yes, you'll notice that sometimes some of my images are poor attempts at digital drawing. I have yet to get the hang of the Wacom tablet. It causes me stress trying to draw on something that's not really something, but is attached to something, that transfers something to where the image shows up on screen. My bass-ackwards usage of the mouse (thanks dad), adds to the frustration level of trying to draw with the tablet pen when I think right is left, and left is right ... the tablet is a parallel universe where things are as they seem - oh my gawd, right is actually right! I've resigned myself to sketching by hand, scanning, opening the scan in Illustrator,  (cheating) live paint/tracing, and them importing to Photoshop and painting in layers with the handy dandy good ole' mouse. Not quite the romantic, dignified or simplified way that I envisioned world of digital drawing, but it's got to work for the time being.

Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but I like the feel of a pencil or paint brush in my hand, moving and flowing against a piece paper or a canvas, it's comfortable ... is that weird? I suppose, maybe a little, but artists are allowed to be eccentric, right? At least I'm trying, and digital work is at the very least, more convenient than lugging around an acrylic paint set and canvas or a giant tackle box of markers, and it is much less obvious to others, that I'm actually drawing, ahem, for obvious reasons. Makes life easier. I suppose I should keep practicing - they say practice makes perfect you know, and maybe one day I'll get the hang of it.

Printer Trials and Errors

The super fantastic Epson R1900 arrived at my house on Monday, about 2 hours after my post. It's huge! I'm not sure what I was expecting in the size department, but the thing is enormous. This makes me very happy about my Ikea desk addition purchase that was bought and assembled on Sunday, making my desk about 3/4's of the size of my office.

So, I am now in the testing phase. This printer is much more complicated than your average desktop unit, housing 8 individual ink cartridges, including a gloss optimizer for stunning output. I'm slowly learning what this beast can do, and so far, am extremely happy when I the pieces fall together. The prints are full of rich colour, fantastic detail and the single piece of art that I printed last night (after a half hour of trying to figure out settings) looks perfect!

To learn more about his printer please visit:
EPSON R1900

Web Site Re-Vamp

Slowly, but surely, I am coming along with my business/web site re-vamp. It is taking longer than I anticipated as I am very picky about how I want things displayed and what I need to include. Overall, I am taking a more gallery-business type of approach, so bare with me, and visit frequently to see how the changes are progressing. Though, I'm thinking it best not to ease into it, but rather jump feet first and make a big splash. So perhaps keep an eye out for a brand new site, rather than just changes to the old one.

I will still be offering Pet and People Portraits, however, I will also be offering fine art - originals and prints - for sale and some new products available in my boutique. And, as always, I am still available for design work.

So, with that said, I'd better get back to work. I'm hoping to be fully operational in about two months.

New Designs

Well, I have been dabbling in the world of digital painting, and have come up with some pop-art style designs that will now be available as prints on my imagekind website. Also included on this site are prints from some of my traditional artwork and prints of my photography.

Please feel free to browse the site, there are many different pieces there, sure to suit all sorts of tastes.

http://juliesillustration.imagekind.com

Another walk in the woods today, sans camera (images are from a previous visit), got me and the little dog turned around and upside down. Not sure how I managed to veer off left, when I needed to veer right, but coming up to another intersection with the handy dandy posted trail map, I realized that I goofed.

I stood there pondering, looking rather stupid, eying the map for about 5 minutes, not a sole in sight (thank goodness), and no encouragement from Brandy. In fact, when I decided to double back, she was completely sure that I was a nut, and wasn't going to follow the idiot that got her "lost".

I'm pretty sure that not many people wind up "lost" in the wilds at Crawford Lake. It's really not that difficult, trails are pretty clearly marked, but in my defence, everything looks, well, different when the leaves are in their full summer glory. Plus, I suppose I can admit when I haven't been paying attention, and this weekend has been full of non-paying-attention moments for me.

I had an idea of my dense move when I passed a bench that I'd never before seen on my hikes. Commenting on this to the little dog, who also looked at the bench, perplexed, I continued on, bringing myself to the point of turned around and up-side down. The moral of the story is, next time I encounter an unfamiliar landmark, stop, drop and roll, back the way I came. Especially if I seem to be moving further into dense bush and darker trails.

And to top it all off, before becoming "lost", on an off trail, we were being followed. Brandy noticed before I did, and when I get the low growl directed somewhere off in the woods from her, I admit, I panic a little.

I stopped, which you all know is a stupid thing to do, you see it in the horror movies all the time. People stop when they think they're being followed (idiots) and go back to investigate who's following them (major idiots). So I was just an idiot.

I stopped, looked back into the ground cover, and witnessed it being moved in a wave like motion towards us, without the wind blowing. I really only stopped for a second, because when I saw the wave in the vegetation, I started to speed walk away perhaps even jogging a little.

Brandy, being the terrier that she is, kept an eye behind me, growling the whole time, which just made me even more tense because all I had as a weapon was my cellphone (a good battering ram it does not make), and a 12 pound Jack Russell, whom I have no doubt would have gone toe-to-toe with whatever was trailing us, but she is only 12 pounds. My guess, it was probably only an angry squirrel, a large rampaging chipmunk, a boisterous raccoon or a rabid pack of wild chickens, but I don't take chances in the woods by myself, so I got the heck out of there.

On the bonus we get a lot of comments on the little blue backpack. Perhaps not comments, more like remarks, at first they're playful and funny, but then they just get to be laughing behind our back remarks. So, perhaps it's not a bonus. Has no one ever seen a dog with a backpack on? Seriously?

A Figment of my Imagination

The "Mushroom Eater" - 8"x10" water colour on illustration board.

This was the result of me testing out my not so fantastic water colour skills, both water colour pencil crayons and regular water colour paints. I'm happy with it, he's cute, life is good so what more could I ask?

Another older piece, and one of my favorites, of course because it is my favorite subject. And what better way to capture my favorite subject in a painting, than with her favorite thing in the whole world - THE BALL!

I titled this acrylic piece "Me and My Ball". The BALL in question is a red rubber "Kong Ball", and if your dog is BALL crazy, I highly recommend these almost indestructible play-things.

The BALL seems to be like drugs to my little dog. It doesn't matter if the world is coming down around her, as long as she's got the BALL, all is well.

The odd time she will moan about the cupboard where it is kept, waiting somewhat impatiently, for the door to be opened so that the BALL can come out and play.

Her obsession has subsided slightly over the years, but if the BALL is revealed, all hell can and will break loose. We did, at one point, use it as a reward for a job well done in the agility ring. That went sour very quickly.

Brandy isn't stupid, nor is she a "let me please you, and you alone" kind of dog. So once she found out that the BALL was not on course with us, well, it just wasn't worth while for her to stay in the ring. Granted we've worked on this as a training issue, however, the BALL is no longer allowed at agility events.

But, the BALL makes her happy - a little too happy at times, but happy none the less, and it's amazing the kind of joy that she gets out of a simple little round, red, rubber object. Makes you stop and take a second to appreciate the small things in life. Not necessarily BALLS, I'll leave that for the dogs, but the other small things, that seem unimportant in the big picture of things, but should never be over looked for fear of missing out on something that could bring a little bit more joy into our days.

More Bees

It really does taste good, honey on toast. Haven't had it for years, so I'm really not sure what inspired this 8"x10" acrylic piece.

Bees with Honey

This is a piece from last year that I created ... yes, I have an odd imagination, but it entertains me. And, I like and admire bees, what can I say. They work so hard, and I can't fathom why you would even want to work that hard for your whole life. I'm still waiting to win the lottery.

I have a new piece on the go right now, another work in progress, however, can not post the progress as it is a gift for someone who may be lurking. So, I'm digging up some older pieces to display on here until the gift is complete.

Another Bee piece will follow tomorrow.

Work in Progress...Long Progress

I've become fed-up. I've taken an extended break from this piece as it is just not conforming to my original idea the way I would like it to. When (and if) this piece finally gets completed, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Jack Russell Rescue of Ontario.

I'm hoping that by posting it here, I can look at it in a different light, and figure out where the heck I've gone wrong...wrong in so many ways. This is an acrylic on canvas, and my hope was to create that generic look that any JRT lover would want to hang in their home. I'm still hoping.

In the mean time, check out the JRTRO as they have many wonderful mature JRT's that are looking for new homes.