In the Ruff:

One of the first definitive drawings of LePardine. I still need to put the second Snow Cat on the left. She will be reminiscent of an Anime style. Then I need to zero in on the type of light I want. I may go for a semi shadow with a strong back rim light...maybe. People are so impressed that I am so self motivated as busy as I am. But I ask them, how can you not? It's so much freakin' fun to draw, to create, to dream. Friends have been suggesting changing "LeoPardine" to "LePardine." What do you think? Remember this will eventually become a graphic novel for girls. Right now I am working on a Halloween costume for my daughter and I for a party this weekend...

Pet

Finished. On to the next projects!

Pet

I'm doing this for a friend who says that her friend's dog died. She was poisoned by someone. Her friend was going to go to an animal portrait artist who charged a lot of money, but I said let me do it. Pro Bono. It has been such a wet day that the paints (acrlylic) took their time in drying so I ended up painting wet on wet, which is something I don't normally do. I suppose that's how it feels to paint with oils and the underpainting looked like a wet oil.

I used to paint a lot of animals in miniature back in the day and then, it was the most striking work I did. (This is not a miniature.) Since then, I got married, had a child, and the ol eyesight is not what it used to be. Back then I really had no real responsibilities and was not interrupted every five minutes and I think I had had more sleep and a steadier hand. But at this age, I must admit, I make better decisions when creating and am more calm and relaxed and deliberate. Age does has its advantages. I will post this again when I am finished.

Painting in Process:

Much better on this one. More to go, loving those purples and oranges again...

Roccoco object from the Getty.

More images from the Getty; same picture.

OOps, hey, I forgot the Sorrolla!

I tend to love the Neo-Classic stuff; always have since a teenager. I also love the ceramic Jesus, which was not a real great piece in itself, but photographed beautifully, even with a crappy cell phone. An image which may be painted in the future.
I could not get over how realistic the tiger fur was; you could almost reach out and touch it. I don't think it was an Alma-Tadema like the one at the bottom but within that genre. The Alma-Tadema was mindblowing.

I have more images, but for some reason, Blogger will not let me post them...:(
The image at the top must have been painted with a single hair brush in the final details. Beautiful clarity in painting execution; every detail in sharp focus. The middle painting was of course a Sargent, but not a great Sargent example. I thought the most interesting part was the hand. Then there was a sumptious cat which was very buttery; the portrait of the woman itself was not as fresh nor inspired.

I went to the Getty Center yesterday with a friend. I apologize about the quality of the photos; I took them with my phone camera. I am looking for a few things: Real paintings with real paint strokes. Particularly interested in how painters dealt with several figures in a picture to tell a story and having the story still read clearly. I have been painting several figures in a background (digitally) for a client and am learning how to simplify the story in terms of light, or warm and cool colors. I am also looking at the paintings as abstract colors.