Jeff

This is Jeff, our oldest granddog. Jeff is quite an old guy, now. He leaves horseplay and nonsense to the other dogs - Jeff's idea of a good time is napping in a warm and cozy spot.

Winnie

Here's Winnie again, after the glazing. The color is a little bit closer to the real Winnie's color.

Westie

I've been trying my hand at glazing again. This is a painting that I did some weeks ago. I added a light glaze, and I like the effect. I decided to add several layers of glaze to the painting of Winnie (below). Winnie is a black dog, and I think the glaze will help. I'll post it once I've completed the glazed layers.

Winnie

This is Winnie - isn't she cute? She's a black lab/border collie mix if I remember correctly. Her portrait is my co-worker's gift to his wife for her birthday. I know she doesn't know about this blog, so I'm safe in posting it.

My birthday is coming up, and I received a fabulous birthday gift from my spouse - not only did he get me the Photoshop Elements software that I've been whining about, he also got me a Mac Pro computer! I'm in hog heaven! Getting the computer up and running was a snap, but getting PhotoShop loaded was a pain in the you-know-what. I've spent the whole afternoon trying to get that sucker onto the computer. It's finally done, so all I have to do is learn how to use it. I used PhotoShop on this painting, and it certainly makes a difference.

Winnie's owner is a PhotoShop wiz, and we worked a trade - a painting of his dog for lessons on how to use PhotoShop. I can hardly wait to learn about all the bells and whistles. I hope they will like the painting.

Chat

Most of the time I'm pretty unhappy with my paintings. I see so many things that are wrong. It's pretty discouraging and sometimes seems like there is no progress. Yet with each painting session, I learn something new. I know that through constant practice and focused repetition, eventually I will get better.

I'm reading an excellent book by Stanford University psychologist, Carol Dweck, Mindset . I learned about this book from my favorite blog, Learning to See - A Journey Back to Painting. The premise of "Mindset" is that talent isn't innate; it's something that is achieved through diligence and hard work.

The wonderful and liberating idea is that we aren't helpless and hopeless - we haven't been consigned to a set intelligence or a set talent. Success is in our hands and within our control. A good reason to keep painting!

Henry

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Henry is another little kitty from one of the humane shelters in Oregon. I couldn't resist painting those sweet eyes.

Open Studio - Sean

This is the portrait I worked on in Open Studio last evening. There is quite a bit of glare on the forehead area. I may try to photograph it again tonight once it's had a chance to dry a bit.

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I was having great fun painting this cat until I accidentally dropped the panel face down right on top of my palette. Grrrr! I don't anticipate that I'll make that mistake again!

Figure Study

This is the figure study from last night's open studio. This is a two session pose so I'll most likely work on this again next week. I struggle with values.

Concentration

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I love the look of total, intense, focused concentration in this cat's eyes.

Playtime?

SOLD

I just love this little girl's expression. She so clearly wants to play!

This is another exercise in painting white animals. I'm using the technique that Julie Ford Oliver demonstrated in her blog, and I like the depth of color that occurs when using the transparent underpainting. It give me the confidence to attempt painting more white dogs and cats!

Katie

SOLD

Katie was much loved and left behind many fond memories. 

Waiting

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Cats often give the impression that they're just waiting for something to happen, don't they? I imagine this kitty is waiting for that darn bird to come just a little bit closer...

I experimented with this painting using the technique for painting white that Julie Ford Oliver demonstrated on her blog. This was my first attempt and it looks like it, but I will keep practicing until I get better. Julie's white flowers were lovely. If you have a minute, be sure to check out her blog (please see blog list on the right side of this page). Julie's work is beautiful and she is very generous about sharing her techniques.

Chat

I'm in Idaho this week. I miss being home and am antsy to get back to painting. Still, I really like Boise, and especially like the folks who work in the Boise office. If I were home this evening, I'd be painting at Open Studio. Instead, I watched a documentary about Mr. Rogers on PBS. What an extraordinary man he was. He had such wonderful outlook on life. It's ok that I missed Open Studio tonight. I think I re-learned some important things from Mr. Rogers. I anticipate that I'll return to painting with a calmer, happier attitude.

Westie

 

Here's a guy for the Daily Paintworks Challenge.

Bella

This is sweet Bella, my daughter's family's dog. She is the kindest, gentlest, most patient dog I've ever met. We all love Bella.

I've been having lots of problems with computer-type stuff. First, we lost our wireless connection...apparently I need a new router. Secondly, Blogger changed its format and I can't edit my blogs. It's extremely frustrating.

Next week I'll be in Boise on business. Since I can't take my painting stuff, I'll spend the week working on my new website, SueHarrell.com. It's up, but currently it only has photos of my paintings. I need to add a price list, how to buy, etc. I've also talked with one of the tech-type guys at work. He's willing to teach me the fundamentals of basic Photoshop so I'll be able to tweak my photos to more accurately reflect what the paintings look like.

Really, all I want to do is paint...I'm eager to get all the details taken care of so I can get back to my easel.

Figure Study

I hadn't planned to post a painting tonight, but what the heck...this is the underpainting for a figure study that I started this evening in open studio. This is a two-session pose, so I'll get to finish it next week. This model is the best in town - she's able to sit like a statue, and after each break, she manages to find the exact same pose - amazing!

I was trying to state values with this study. It's a real challenge for me, and good practice.

Chat

No painting to post today - I'll be going to open studio this evening to attempt to do a figure painting. I have ambivalent feelings about going. I enjoy the company of  the other painters - it's a convivial group and I always come away feeling refreshed. On the other hand...I've never completed a painting I like and always end up with a wiper. I look at it as practice. Who knows, one of these days I might surprise myself and paint something worth keeping.

I spent a little time reading "I'd Rather Be In The Studio" last night; hence, the change in my blog design. I learned that white on black is a killer to read (actually, I learned that from "Artists Helping Artists)."

I also learned that one should avoid "cutesy" - therefore, I got rid of the squiggly font. It's odd...I'm not a cutesy person at all, and I really don't like cutesy. Cutesy tends to follow me around, though, and often creeps into my writing and painting.

If my cat or dog paintings start to look cutesy, please let me know!

Painting Break

I was hoping to do some painting tonight, but it feels too much like a Monday (my "get up and go" got up and went). Instead, I'll spend the evening reading. I recently bought the book, "I'd Rather Be In the Studio," by Alyson Stanfield. The book has lots of info about art marketing. I've been doing some commissioned pet paintings for friends and colleagues, and would like to expand my client base, but I'm not sure how to go about it. I think it's time to learn something about marketing. I'll be interested to see what Alyson has to say.

The Easter Kitty

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The Daily Paintworks Challenge for this week is to paint something with an Easter theme. The Easter Kitty seemed like just the guy to paint!

Gracie

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Tres Chic

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This dog is a poodle/terrier mix, and her funny little face just makes me laugh. She looks like she is quite pleased with her coiffure.

Francois

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Francois is listed as a poodle, but I don't know...I think there may be a spaniel somewhere with some explaining to do.

Catnap

SOLD

This is Casey. Casey is my grandson's cat. I'm not sure, but I suspect Casey spent time as a zen master in the art of relaxation during one of his nine lives.

Ol' Blue Eyes

SOLD

You Can Tell Me...

SOLD
...I'm all ears.

Nobody's Baby

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This is a shelter kitty. She's nobody's baby.

Chloe

SOLD

Tennis, anyone?

I've reworked this painting several times. It just didn't look right. I finally changed the background color to a medium value. I think that helped. The previous dark background seemed to overwhelm the dog's face, and also obscured the tennis ball. I like the heavier neutral impasto background. 

RyLee

SOLD

This is a custom portrait of  RyLee, a very sweet dachshund.

Eddie

Eddie's a German shepherd. He's about a year old - a teenager in dog years!

Peaches

Peaches is a golden retriever/spaniel mix, and, boy, did I ever struggle with this painting. I wiped it so many times before I finally gave up. I had a lot of problems with perspective. It seemed whenever I got one part of the face to look right, it threw off everything else.

Larry Chihuahua

SOLD

Greta

SOLD

Greta is a whippet mix.

Molly

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Our beautiful Molly girl. Molly is my mom's springer spaniel, and a beloved member of our family. Molly is a big girl who thinks she is a lap dog. She just exudes love and happiness. Molly was my dad's loyal companion, and stayed close by his side until he died. I have poignant memories of Dad and Mom with Molly on the beach near the Florence jetty. Molly was a young dog at that time and her ears would fly in the wind as she ran back and forth on the beach.  She's an old girl now, and living a cozy life with my mom in Arizona. Sweet, sweet Molly.

Mutt

Oil on canvas. 6"x6"

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Skip

Oil on canvas. 5"x7

Baxter

Oil on canvas. 5"x7"

I purchased a couple of Carol Marine's "ArtBytes" and tried some of the techniques on this painting. I'm really happy with the tutorials - they are very helpful.

Jess

Oil on canvas, 6"x6"

Jess is a four year old Whippet/Shepherd mix.

Kaizer

Oil on canvas. 5"x7"

This is Kaizer. He's a German Shepherd/Siberian Husky mix, and a real charmer.

Sadie

Oil on canvas. 5"x7"

I'm combining my two loves...painting and dogs!

Doxie

Oil on canvas. 5"x7"

We're a family of pet lovers, and I find I love painting them as well!

Weston

Oil on Gessobord. 10x8

SOLD

This is Weston. Weston is a sweetie. He's a lovely Westie, and you can tell by his bearing that he's a proud little boy. His people say he's a talker and really likes to perform. When out walking, he's recognized as a "babe magnet." It's no wonder - he's such a handsome guy.

Alpaca Farm

Oil on canvas board. 11x14

This painting was originally painted over a year ago, during the fall. My mom had asked for this painting, but I had mislaid it, and thought that it had been painted over. I discovered it this morning while sorting through some old canvases. Sadly, it was a pretty horrible painting. I think it probably photographed better than it looked. I decided to retouch it, to see if I could salvage it. While it looks a little better than the original, it's still not great. 90% of the problem is me, the other 10% is the canvas board. I no longer use canvas board because it's so difficult to paint on.

At any rate, I was glad to find the painting because it was one that my mom was interested in.

Three Little Cupcakes

Oil on Gessobord. 5'x7"

Apples

Oil on Gessoboard. 5"x7"

I've been under the weather for the last little bit. It's good to get back to painting.

Morning Pear

Oil on canvas. 6"x6"

The wind woke our dogs this morning, and they woke us. I wasn't able to get back to sleep, so decided to use the time to paint. I like painting in the early morning - a cup of coffee, a pear for my model, and I'm good to go.

Apple on Saucer

Oil on Gessobord. 5"x7"

This is another value study. I like painting in three stages. I think it gives me a little more control. The painting photographed a little better today. It's mistake for me to try to take a picture of a painting that's right off the easel. Allowing some drying time helps with reducing the glare.

Vanilla Cupcake

Oil on Gessobord. 5"x7"

One of the lessons learned over the past year is to slow down and to be more deliberate. Recently, I've been doing my paintings in three stages:

(1) the initial sketch in burnt sienna or burnt umber
(2) an underpainting
(3) the final painting

This allows me to place the values and gives me a bit more control. I've been using Liquin as a medium so that each layer will dry quickly.

Below are the three stages of the cupcake painting.

Happy New Year!

Oil on Gessobord. 5"x7"

Today is the first anniversary of this blog. The intent of keeping a blog was to journal my progress as a painter. My hope was to do a painting a day. I realized pretty quickly that posting a new painting every day was unrealistic for me, but the need to post something on the blog has helped me stay motivated to paint most days, if not every day.

I feel the constant practice has helped develop my painting skills. While I'm far from where I want to be, I think I've made some progress over the past year. Here's a painting of a coffee mug that I did in April. In comparing these two paintings, I can see that there has been some improvement.

While I'm pleased with the progress I've made, I still have a long way to go. I need to get better with color, value, line, and design. My resolution for 2012 is to become more disciplined in my practice. I also plan to include more drawing.

I'll continue to use this blog as my journal, posting observations along with my paintings. It will be interesting to see how things look in January 2013.

My warmest wishes for a Happy New Year!