"My Toy"

"My Toy", Pastel on velour, 16"x12"(20"x16" framed)

I had been wanting to paint this ever since I took the photo back in 2009.  This is Fancy, my loving border collie of 15-1/2 years.  We had to say goodbye to her in Nov., 2017.  Now, it is my tribute to her.  She loved her frisbee.  She would play catch until she wore us out!

I finished the painting just in time to enter it in the current special show at New Braunfels Art League Gallery, "All Creatures Great or Small".  I am also happy to share that I have received a 2nd. Place award in the Drawing Media category!!  It is a beautiful show of animals and creatures God has given us, so if you are in the area, I highly recommend you check it out.  It runs from Aug. 30th. until Sept. 29th..

Here are some "work in progress" pics.

Enjoy, and thank you for reading this.

On light grey velour paper.  Starting to block in darks.

Starting on background.

Framed.

"Ebbe"

Pastel on velour, 20" x 16"

My latest commission.

I'm "back in the saddle, again".  Finally--back in my studio, doing what I love to do!!  Since last November and thru March--life got in my way of having fun.  See below for some w.i.p. shots.  The owner of Ebbe also purchased my small preliminary piece I often do to warm up, get a feel for what I'm doing, and make sure I'm getting the coloring correct.  I usually don't show it to the customer, but I took it with me when I revisited Ebbe, and she(the owner) bought it on the spot.  That was exciting!!  Ebbe is a beautiful German short haired retriever and has a great personality.  I not only loved meeting him but also painting him!!

Enjoy!

Transferred onto the velour paper and started blocking in some darks.

Did some lights, the nose and tongue.

Blocked in the body and started working on the white hair--which was not easy.

The small one finished.

"I Love Ya, Bro."

Also known as Creed.

Pastel, 10"x8"

This past summer, my niece, Brooke, showed me some photos of a boxer dog she absolutely adores--Creed.  His owner is a friend of her and Clay.  This was one of those "I have to paint this dog".  The look on his face was so enticing and I loved this coloring.  He is a Fawn Boxer dog.  Brooke contacted Creed's owner, who sent me more pics and gave me permission to paint him.

The one photo that had the look I wanted was not good for referance (too dark in background, and the light source washed out his coloring).  However, the other photos gave me good referance on coloring, and I did my usual research on getting to know my subject matter better.  I am finding out that by researching about my subjects involves me more with my paintings.  I hope I get to meet Creed some day.  He was a joy to paint!

Enjoy!!

Here are some work in progress shots.

Transferred my design and started working on the darks. 

Started on his eyes and lighter colors.

Working on lighter and medium colors to get my form.

Playing with background.

 Finished.

I Listened Again

"Chillin' Out", Pastel, 8"x8"

Previously On May 7, 2017, I posted a blog on "It Pays to Follow That Inner Spirit".  Well, it happened again!  Just about three weeks ago I made plans to enter "The Three Alpacateers" in an upcoming show at New Braunfels Art League Gallery.  Two days before submission day, I was looking at the paintings I had hanging in my art show room, when "Chillin' Out" caught my eye.  The theme of the show is "Artoberfest"(i.e. Octoberfest).  Yes, I felt, I should enter this, also--the praying mantis is sitting on a beer bottle.

Great News!!  Not only did it receive an Honorable Mention, it was also purchased as the show started.  Needless to say--I did a happy dance!!  The "Artoberfest" will be showing Oct. 5 - Nov. 13, 2017, at the New Braunfels Art League Gallery, New Braunfels, Texas.  

Thanks for reading.

"The Three Alpacateers"

Pastel, 8" x 10", on gray pastelboard

AKA Lucy, Tina and Al Pacasso :)

A customer acquaintance took the referance photo on her phone while at an alpaca ranch in the midwest.  I loved it the minute I saw it and asked her if I could paint it.  She kindly sent it to me and I sooo loved painting it.  Thank you Connie!

I decided to have some fun with it, so I asked my sister and niece to each name one of the alpacas.  Yes, I do get involved with my art work!

Below is some of my work in progress.

Enjoy, and thanks for reading!!

Transferred my drawing over to the pasteboard and started establishing the darks and midtowns.

Chopping at the bit to get started on an alpaca.  Decided to do Al first so the coloring wouldn't contaminate the other two since they will be white.

Started on Tina.

Now for Lucy

Trying to work on right color for background.  In real life, the color is a little more greenish turquoise.

Finished!!

Keep Your Truck Clean

"An Admiral in Texas", Pastel, 10"x8"

This beautiful butterfly stopped for a visit on the bumper of my husband's pick-up truck, while he was washing it.  I was so happy he had his cell phone handy!!  Talk about good timing!!

I looked in my butterfly book and discovered it is a Red Spotted Purple Admiral.  They mainly live in east Texas straight up to lower Great Lakes, east to coast lines.  Also found in Mexico.  They like a variety of trees including the blooms of Cherry trees(and we do grow them in east Texas).  So I picked the blossoms of a cherry tree for the painting.

Enjoy and thanks for reading!!

referance photo

It Pays to Follow That Inner Spirit

When I finished "A Texas Lunch" (previous post), there was an upcoming show at New Braunfels Art Gallery in New Braunfels, Texas, and I had decided not to enter it.  However, upon framing it (with the help of my niece, Brooke), I got that inner spirit voice saying "enter it".  I usually follow it--so decided to.  So glad I did!!

The reception for the show "Art in Bloom" was this past Friday, May 6th..  It is a beautiful show and will run until May 28th..  I am so happy to share that I received 3rd. Place, Drawing/Pastel category!!

A Texas Lunch

"A Texas Lunch", Pastel, 8"x10"

An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on a Texas Thistle. He(she) poised for me on the Lantana in our back yard. I had already painted one on Lantana, so choose to do a Thistle, which is one of my favorite wildflowers in Texas.

Enjoying Texas Sunset

I keep my camera close to our back door and just happened to catch this hummingbird sitting on our dinner ringer.  He(or she) was facing the wrong direction, so, I just flipped the profile.

Meanwhile, I had also been trying to come up with what I wanted to paint next.  When I was browsing through my photos on the pc, this one caught my eye.  Since it was a relatively simple composition, I felt it would be a fast one, get me back in the grove, and I wanted to practice my sunsets.  The sun actually rises from this direction of my deck, but, who's to know?  I could probably, also, title it Enjoying Texas Sunrise.

I will be including this painting in my Runaway Art collection which is currently on display at Grahamstock Glass & Gallery, in Wimberley, Texas.

Enjoy!!  And thanks for reading!!

"Enjoying Texas Sunset", Pastel, 8"x8"

You Never Know...

...who you will meet at a party?  :)

"Chillin Out", Pastel, 8"x8"

My second cousin, Sharra, captured the photo of this critter, a couple of years ago, while we were sitting outside eating at a restaurant, in Marble Falls, Tx..  We were having our annual Lewis women's reunion.  Talk about good timing!  The minute she showed it to me, I asked if I could paint it.

It was a fun piece to paint and I will be showing it with my collection, Runaway Art.  My Runaway Art paintings are being shown at Grahamstock Glass Gifts & Gallery, in Wimberley, Tx..  www.GrahamstockGlass.com 

W.I.P. shots:

May I introduce you to "Duke"

"Duke", Pastel, 10"x8"

My latest pet portrait commission.  Duke is now at Rainbow Bridge.  He was a Redbone Coonhound. His owner rescued him and loved him dearly.  She said he was a very loving and sweet dog and she will miss him immensely.  How could you not with that adorable look on his face!

I so enjoyed working on this painting!  I think I had a smile on my face the whole time.  The referance photo was very small and when enlarged, I lost a lot of detail, but determined to make it work.  I also researched "redbone coonhounds", just to get familiar with that breed, and I have learned how photos can change coloring.  So, luckily, the owner lived within a good distance, and I visited her with several referance photos, and we discussed coloring of his coat.  I later sent her an email with color swatches I had come up with.  She approved one and off I went.  Below, you will see my work in progress.  When I visited her for the final approval--she said "perfect"--whewww!  So I was so happy to leave "Duke" with her.  I sure hope she sends me a photo of it hanging in her office.

ENJOY!!

Expand Your Horizons, Part 4

Another "Expanding My Horizons" I did was entering an annual show that I have not participated in before.  It is the "2016 Reflections of Texas & Beyond Art Show", sponsored by the Luling Oil Museum in Luling, Texas.  This year it was dedicated to Ms. Carol Voigt.  A wonderful show and a great reception.  The reception was this past Sunday and the show will be running until Sept. 23, 2016.

I am honored to report that I received the Carol Voigt Memorial Award for "Better Than Diamonds"!!  It does pay(literally) to "Expand Your Horizons"!!  Talk about motivation to paint more!!

"Better Than Diamonds", Pastel

A Fun Piece to Do

"Working for Sh..  :)", Charcoal/Pastel, 8" x 8"

This was a fun piece to do, in-between my "normal" paintings, and I will be adding it to my series "Runaway Art".  The album can be viewed on my FB page, R.J. Collectibles - Fine Art.

I love to work with charcoal and an eraser, then add a touch of pastel color to it.  While working on this, I thought to myself...who but an artist would go looking for dung beetles on their morning walk (except maybe a little boy).

Google "dung beetles" and, believe it or not, there is some interesting information on them, from how they navigate, where they take the dung, and what they do with it.  Then you can say you learned something new today.

"Better Than Diamonds", the painting

"Better Than Diamonds", Pastel, 14" x 11"

Fancy and I.

I posted the reference photo for this painting back on Oct. 24, 2014, along with its story.  Hard to believe it has been that long.  It has also been pinned on the wall of my studio, and every time I looked at it, I kept saying I had to paint it.  Well, I finally did, and am very pleased!  I am also happy with the frame I selected--really accents the light colors in the painting.

Hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I have.  Glad you can't wear a painting out just by looking at it :)

"Celebrate"

"Celebrate", Pastel on velour, 18" x 16"

"Celebrate" is #3 in my series "Paint What You Love".  The first two have my dog, Fancy, in them.  The idea for it came to me because I had received 1st. place awards for the first two, and I wanted her to get a 1st. place award for painting me, aka Fancy's mother.  If you don't catch on to that--I posed like in the famous painting, Whistler's Mother".  I have a lot of referance photos of Fancy, but not one of her jumping.  So, I took time to learn more about a dog's anatomy and did several sketches to see if the proportions were right.  I also took more photos of her in various positions.  Poor thing--she couldn't lay down for a nap without me bothering her.

"Celebrate" is currently in the Canyon Lake Art Guild's, Lasting Impressions Show, at the New Braunfel's Art Gallery, in New Braunfels, Texas, through Mar. 30th..

ENJOY!!

"Paint What You Love", Pastel, 16"x20"

"Have Fun", Pastel, 20"x16"

Some pictures of my paintings have been published!

How exciting it is to see pictures of my paintings published in a book, especially alongside beautiful works of amazing and talented artists.  It was put together by a great team of artists of the Canyon Lake Art Guild.  So Professionally done and I am so happy to have it displayed on my coffee table!!

It can be viewed and purchased, by going to:  www.canyonlakeartguild.com