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.
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.
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 👩🏻🎨
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 🤓
I love painting animal portraits especially when the models have gorgeous eyes, Toby was no exception – beautiful peepers! 🐶❤️
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!
Just completed this acrylic portrait of a Basset Hound on a bold pink background to reflect the personality and character of this fun loving breed 🤓
New pastel painting just completed – Unison pastels on Canson Mi-Teintes paper. This fluffy hunk is heading off to my page at Saatchi Art online to see if he can find a new owner. Wish him luck! 🤓
Following a change of mind with one of my paintings, I recently took the plunge to swap a safe sky blue colour for a bold purple (my favourite!) colour. I think it makes the subject – a hunk of English Bull Terrier – ‘pop’ forward now. I love subtle, gentle background colours, but just now and again I like to go a bit bananas! See what you think. 🤓
Further to my previous blog “Something New”, I’m happy to report that the German Shepherd pastel presented in a pre-cut mount has sold at my unit at Garrion Bridges, so time to get busy and get a few more pastels underway.
Rosie Mark Artwork 