Busy Season

The Holiday rush has started, and I've been working on quite a few custom portraits already. Since I won't be posting them here for a while, here are the ones that I can share with you. A mix of commissions, and "just for fun" work.


Giraffe 2 - 5x7" - Colored Pencils
SOLD


Tuxedo 26 - 8x10" - Colored Pencils
NOT FOR SALE


Jonah - 8x10" - Colored Pencils
NOT FOR SALE


Sapphire - 5x7" - Colored Pencils
NOT FOR SALE

Between Commissions

Christmas is right around the corner, and with it comes the custom portraits rush. I've already started working on a few, but I won't post them here or anywhere until after the Holidays. I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone.

In between commissions, I'm hoping to be able to draw and paint a little too so I don't leave this page completely blank.
Here are a couple I finished lately:



Cheetah 3 - 5x7" - Colored Pencils
SOLD


 
Cat and Crow 21 - 8x10" - Colored Pencils
SOLD

Update

I realize I didn't post anything all Summer, but it doesn't mean I wasn't busy using my art supplies. Quite the contrary.
I'm not going to post here all the artwork that I made, but here are a few to give you an idea.


Periwinkle - 5x5" - Colored Pencils
SOLD


Special request - 8x10" - Colored Pencils
NOT FOR SALE


Cat and Crow 20 - 6x11" - Colored Pencils
SOLD


Special Request - 8x10" - Colored Pencils
NOT FOR SALE


Tiger 49 - 9x12" - Colored Pencils
NOT FOR SALE YET (participating in a juried competition).


Pug 11 - 8x10" - Colore Pencils
SOLD


Chat Noir 195 - 5x7" - Colored Pencils
SOLD


Chat Noir 196 - 5x7" - Colored Pencils
SOLD


Horse 10 - 9x12" - Water soluble graphite pencils
SOLD

Raccoons

Here are three little raccoons I listed today:

Raccoon 17 - ACEO (2.5"x3.5") - Colored Pencils - SOLD

Raccoon 18 - ACEO (2.5"x3.5") - Colored Pencils - SOLD

Raccoon 19 - ACEO (2.5"x3.5") - Colored Pencils - SOLD

New Store

I am pleased to announce that the "Store" tab above will now be taking you to my stand alone store. I'm very excited about this nice change, and while I'm working on more changes to make it look cleaner, I'm currently offering 15% off all my ACEO prints. If you don't see one that you like on sale, please let me know, I'll fix it for you.
Thanks for your patience and continuing support.

30 Paintings in 30 Days

~ Painting #15 ~

I was so excited a couple of days ago, when I had caught up with the challenge, but I'm running out of fuel, and so I'm behind again. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to catch up. I've got a couple of paintings I'd like to finish. We'll see.
In the meantime, I've got this little guy for you:

Raccoon 16 - 5x7" - Colored Pencils - SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 days

~ Paintings #12, #13, and #14 ~

Today I learned to use a fun technique using oil pastels, and an embossing tool. It's called sgraffito. What you need to do is add some layers of colors on your paper, and then add a layer of black on top. With the embossing tool (you can also use a toothpick, or a skewer), you scratch away the layer of black pastel and draw anything you like. For best results, it's best is to use a smooth support, and try to make sure the colors cover the whole surface before adding the black.
I got to use my imagination, be creative,  and had a lot of fun. I've got some ideas for a few more, but I had to stop at three.
So many things to do, so little time....

Raven 200 - ACEO (2.5x3.5") - Oil Pastels - SOLD

 

Cat 25 - 5x7" - Oil Pastels - FOR SALE

Cat 24 - 5x7" - Oil Pastels - FOR SALE

30 Paintings in 30 days

~ Painting #11 ~

Another little one:

Raven 199 - ACEO (2.5x3.5") - Colored Pencils - SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 days

~ Painting #10 ~

Here's a little Bluebird I did for an online class I've been taking. I did start an oil painting today, but it's not quite finished yet.

Colored Pencils on black paper - 5x7 - NFS

30 Paintings in 30 days

~ Paintings # 5, #6, #7, #8, and #9 ~

It's not that I haven't been working lately, but rather I was busy working on a project for a client. This big commission with five gorgeous cats. Even though they're all on one piece of paper, for the 30 days challenge I'll be counting them as five individual paintings.

First is the full piece with all five cats, and then a close up of each cat. The whole thing was done in colored pencils on a 9x30" black paper.

30 Paintings in 30 days

~ Painting #4 ~

A couple of days ago I murdered a watercolor rose. The paper didn't take my beating, and I ended up giving up on it.
However, last night, after a long and busy day, I decided to stay up, and give it another shot. I started again from the beginning, and I did my best to keep it as simple as possible. I'm pretty happy with the result, and I'm glad I stayed up late to have a painting to post today. What I learned from this painting: persistence!
Hope you like it too.

Rose 3 - 4x6" - Watercolor - SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 days

~Painting #3~

I know, today's the 6th, and I'm only posting painting #3, but that's okay, I WILL finish those 30 paintings by the end of the month. Actually, I could have posted this one yesterday, but I'm not very comfortable handling a fresh oil painting.
I must say I'm so thankful for this challenge because I got to finish a painting I started 18 months ago!!!! I have a few other unfinished paintings I might try to finish this month. We'll see what inspiration brings.
In the meantime here's what I painted yesterday. I'll take more and better pictures when it's all dry.

Rose 2 - 4x6" - Oil on canvas. FOR SALE SOON.

30 Paintings in 30 days

~Painting #2~

After spending a good part of the day shoveling snow, I had just enough energy left to paint this little flower. I'm glad I'm part of this challenge, otherwise I would have just rested for the rest of the day.

Flower - 5x7" - Watercolor and ink - SOLD

30 paintings in 30 days

~Painting #1~

I signed up for the wonderful artist Leslie Saeta's challenge: 30 paintings in 30 days, starting on the first of January 2014. I thought, why not start the new year with a BANG! I know it's going to be a lot of work, and I really want to take advantage of this challenge to practice oils, acrylics, and watercolors. But if I run out of time, or if I have to work on special orders, I'll have to post colored pencils paintings too. Actually, that's kind of what I did with my first one, which is part of a fun project I've been working on.

Taz - 4x6" - Colored Pencils - SOLD

Christmas orders

I didn't blog much during the holidays because I was busy with my Christmas commission work, and I didn't want to post them here and spoil the surprise. This year I mostly did dog portraits, which is a nice change.
Here are all the portraits I did last month:

(I'm not sure why the pictures look so washed out here. But if you want to see them better you can go to my official site.)

Simon Peter - 9x12" - Colored Pencils

Henry - 8x10" - Colored Pencils

Chan Xiu - 16x20" - Colored Pencils (I need to find a better picture of this one. A bit blurry for me)

No-Be-No - 5x7" - Colored Pencil

Wilfie - 8x10" - Colored Pencils

A fun project I've been working on.

My client asked me to make the portraits of her 6 Bearded Collies. She's going to frame them as a collage. Here are the first 4, with 2 more to go.
They're all 4x6" done in colored pencils.