National Dog Day

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On Saturday 26 August, it is National Dog Day – celebrating our canine friends all over the world.  With that in mind, here is a collection of a few of my paintings of pooches who are awaiting their forever homes… or walls!  A mixture of breeds and all lovely characters who make, or have made, our lives just that bit more fun.

Reference Photos

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In between painting pet portraits to commission or new paintings for my ‘wall’ at a local Antiques & Art Centre, I practice by using reference photos taken on my phone of anything and everything and also by using online photo reference sites which I recently joined.  

This ‘Siamese’ is from a photographer called Charlotte White on a Facebook photo ref site for artists and she has beautiful shots of unusual breeds of cats which are always fun to try out.

Siesta

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Here’s a rejigged painting which has been lying around the studio for a few months.  ‘Siesta’ is taken from a holiday photo of a Croatian cat enjoying a sleep right in the middle of a pavement, she obviously knew that there wouldn’t be much pedestrian traffic during siesta time.  Bit of fun doing this one, flicking paint at the canvas with an old toothbrush 👩🏻‍🎨

Limited Edition Prints

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I recently sent four of my paintings to have a limited edition of giclée prints produced by a local printing company called Deadly Digital in Glasgow.  I was really pleased with the results and now have them ready for selling.

The sheep prints (‘Yorkshire Ewe’) are taken from my painting of a gorgeous photograph by Jan Lever with her kind permission.

Here’s a couple of photos showing the prints;  my art unit at Garrion Bridges Garden & Antiques Centre, and how one of them looks in a frame.

We’ll see how this latest venture works out.

Rosie 🤓

‘Suzie’

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Here’s a recent acrylic portrait of my brother-in-law’s beloved Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Suzie.  She is a sweet natured little Staffie and had a tough start in life, but has now found her forever home and is showered with love.  I find it a little frustrating that this breed gets such a bad press in the media as the majority don’t deserve the reputation they receive, it’s usually down to bad handling and/or a lack of training.

The image was taken from a photo of Suzie sat looking out of a window into strong sunlight and I loved the way her eyes and coat shone.  The taupe background and slightly offset composition was chosen to concentrate the viewer’s eye on the subject.  I think I’m going to use this composition again, just need to choose another supermodel now!