Rocky

This is Rocky, my assistant. He holds the floor down while I paint.

Hapi

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When I decided to participate in Leslie Saeta's 30 day challenge, I asked my Facebook friends to send me pictures of their dogs and cats. Folks were kind enough to send me photos of some darling pets that I'm eager to paint. This little guy is "Hapi." I fell in love with his cute little face and had a great time painting him. I tried a more muted palette this time - sort of a modified Zorn palette using Ivory Black, Transparent Iron Oxide Red, Yellow Ochre, and Titanium White. Terry Miura mentioned in his blog that he uses these colors as his core palette. I really have a difficult time controlling color and found this palette more to my liking. During the 30 day challenge I'll be practicing more with these colors.

Beni

This is Beni, a shiba inu who belongs to a friend and colleague. A slow-dry medium was used for this painting and I was surprised at what a difference it made. I like to do alla prima, but am a slow painter and often find that the paint begins to dry on the canvas before I have a chance to finish the painting. The painting will take longer to dry, but that's ok...there's no rush.