Who Rescued Whom

When I came upon Mr. Souders sitting in the remaining afternoon sun, with a dog adopted only 4 hours earlier from a local animal shelter, I grabbed my camera.  The lighting was amazing and the scene iconic.  The title Who Rescued Whom? Was in my head as I clicked away.

Published in Rachel Rubin Wolf's STROKES OF GENIUS 6, value/lights and darks.

WHO RESCUED WHOM
WHO RESCUED WHOM

18 x 21" Colored Pencil

The original currently resides at and is owned by The Louisiana State University Veterinary Medical School Library. This painting won Best in Show, CPSA District Chapter 119 Exhibition in 2012, where it was also awarded People’s Choice; Judge’s Award, in the International Exhibition on Animal’s in Art, hosted by LSU Veterinary Medical School spring 2012; Best in show non-signature member category of CPSA’s Artspectations spring of 2014; is published in Rachel Rubin Wolf’s STROKES OF GENIUS 6, value/lights and darks.

FINE ART GICLEE AVAILABLE FOR SALE

 

Scale of Anubis

Looking through reference material, I came across a series of photos taken in Cape May, New Jersey and immediately saw a figurative example of the "scale of justice." The scale is associated with the god Anubis, a guardian protector of the dead, who by weighing the heart, determines a soul worthy of Heaven or Hell.

In this image, two helmet-shaped, Horseshoe Crabs, living fossils estimated to be 450 million years old, are held at arm's length by a woman in dark sunglasses. Her expression is difficult to read. Is she amused?  The white dress reminds us that our fate is yet to be determined. The off balance composition is intended to create tension.  What will she decide?  


SCALE OF ANUBIS
SCALE OF ANUBIS

AKA "Meghan's Scale of Justice"

26 x 28.5" Colored Pencil

AVAILABLE FOR SALE

Departing

Like a firefly in a bottle, a successful portrait captures the moment. This is Alice as she prepares to board her flight to California and the beginning of her adult life.

Departing
Departing

19 x 22.5" Colored Pencil

ARTIST PERSONAL COLLECTION

Judges Award, Cincinnati Art Club's  VIEWPOINT 2015

 Manifest Gallery's DRAWN Exhibition 2015 

CPSA International Exhibition 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CATSCAPES

Somewhere between wild and pet, cats are cats.

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Stripes Hooligan
Stripes Hooligan

13" x 16.5" Colored Pencil on Linen

SOLD

The Society of Animal Artists Annual exhibition 2017, ART AND THE ANIMAL 57, Hiram Blauvelt Museum of Art, Oradell, NJ  

Download catalog:
http://www.societyofanimalartists.com/SAA%20Catalog%202017.…

 
Brooklyn Blanket
Brooklyn Blanket

8" x1 0" Colored Pencil on Linen.

Art used in LINEN AND COLORED PENCIL step by step demonstration for Anne Kullberg's Magazine for Colored Pencil Artists Aug. 2013.

SOLD
Thomas Interrupted
Thomas Interrupted

20x16" Colored Pencil on Linen.  

ORIGINAL, ARTIST'S PERSONAL COLLECTION

FINE ART GICLEE AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Flying Dream
Flying Dream

Linus lives in Brooklyn NY, his human works in Manhattan with a view of Central Park.  This is what Linus dreams.

15" x 30" Colored Pencil

ORIGINAL & FINE ART GICLEE AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Ears
Ears

18"x 12.5" Colored Pencil. 

Cover art of JAVMA Vol. 242 June 15, 2013.

ORIGINAL, ARTIST'S PERSONAL COLLECTION

FINE ART GICLEE AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Cleese's Teeth
Cleese's Teeth

I left this loose and unfinished to make it lively. 

22 X 17" Colored pencil on 4ply rag mat board

Artist's Collection

CUSTOM PET PORTRAITS

A pet portrait should never be boring!

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Marley
Marley

11 x 14" Colored Pencil 

AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Molly
Molly

8.5 x 9.5 Colored Pencil on Linen

SOLD
Chubs
Chubs

14 x 11" Colored Pencil

SOLD
French Bulldog with Boy
French Bulldog with Boy

14" x 11" Colored Pencil

SOLD
Shadow Cat
Shadow Cat

8 x 10" Colored Pencil on Linen.

AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Belly Rub
Belly Rub

14 x 11" Colored Pencil 

ARTIST PERSONAL COLLECTION

FOCUS, AKA "OH SNAP!"

Three young women take a "selfie," while the serious photographer uses her professional camera to shoot something we can only surmise, based on stance and power coat, to be outstanding. None of the subjects of this composition are interested in their immediate surroundings. The patterns and suggestions of cables and guard rail place the figures in a ghostly urban setting of just about anywhere. 

Multi layered perspectives, focal points and contrasting technology are explored in this piece. The viewer's attention is purposely  dragged from rich color, to soft mid tones; from saturated to diffused, just as a camera lens comes in and out of focus while the photographer decides where to land her shot. 

 

Focus, AKA "Oh Snap!"
Focus, AKA "Oh Snap!"

26.5 x 20" Colored Pencil 

AVAILABLE FOR SALE- CONTACT ARTIST

CPSA 25th Annual International Exhibition, Bethesda MD, The Mansion at Strathmore June 10 -August 6, 2017. Mentioned in Washington Post July 13, 2017: 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/in-the-galleries-putting-a-fine-point-on-colored-pencil-drawings/2017/07/13/be2fbf4c-65a8-11e7-8eb5-cbccc2e7bfbf_story.html?utm_term=.1a991534a334

Waiting

After seventeen years of creating portraits professionally, I have learned that it helps to have a strong connection to the subject. 

Two dogs and a cat occupy their favorite perch, the weary back of a leather couch which sits under a row of windows overlooking the driveway. This is a typical day.  A grainy, monochromatic foreground portrays that in-between state animals hold while they wait quietly inside. The full color seen through the window, is where life continues at a normal speed and for at least the dogs, all activity begins.  The dogs wait patiently like bookends, while the cat has a bead on a bird in the tree. 

The painting is 100% colored pencil. Solvents were used in places to bleed colors together, then many, many layers of grays, using the “scrumbling” technique, which simply put, is a light even swirling motion with a sharp point to slowly build values. 

Published in Rachel Rubin Wolf's STROKES OF GENIUS 8, expressive textures.

 

WAITING
WAITING

30 x 16.5" Colored Pencil

 FINE ART GICLEE AVAILABLE- CONTACT ARTIST

 

DOGSCAPES

Sometimes you need to be literal.

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Preston
Preston

Surprise!  Water is wet!

Colored Pencil on linen

SOLD
On Scent
On Scent

36 x 30" Colored Pencil

SOLD

CPSA 20th Annual International Exhibition 2012
Bay Watch
Bay Watch

32 x 21.5" Colored Pencil

Late afternoon, wading in Pensacola Bay, the Three Mile Bridge barely in sight.

AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Summer Fox, Harpswell Maine
Summer Fox, Harpswell Maine

A little fox passes me on my morning walk along a cove in Harpswell Maine

Miniature series: 6x 3.5" Colored Pencil on linen.

SOLD

Beaches, Birds and Babes

 Nothing like sand between your toes and salt on your tongue.

Drifter
Drifter

26x20" Colored Pencil

UNAVAILABLE FOR SALE AT THIS TIME
Beach Bunny
Beach Bunny

30x24"" Colored Pencil

The challenge was to create a portrait from 20 year old snapshots. Normally, I would shake my head with a big "SORRY and NO THANK YOU,"  but the story behind the project compelled me to give it a try.  My client had recently found her biological mother after a long search. Unfortunately, Mom passed away a few months prior. The reference photos came from an aunt who filled in some of the blanks. "Coppertone tan," rainbow striped chairs, bleached hair and delightfully curled toes suggest levity, while the heavily shadowed face and empty beach chair leave one to wonder, who is this woman and who belongs to the other chair?  

SOLD

MONOCHROMATIC

A monochromatic palette shifts focus from color to the relationship of shapes and their values.

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Kaleidoscope Cat
Kaleidoscope Cat

10.5 x16" Graphite

AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Charlotte Triptych
Charlotte Triptych

7 x 26" Graphite

AVAILABLE FOR SALE
LINUS TRIPTYCH
LINUS TRIPTYCH

8 x 26" Graphite

SOLD
Peek-a-boo Cat
Peek-a-boo Cat

8x8" Graphite and Colored Pencil

AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Scale of Anubis
Scale of Anubis

 AKA "Meghan's Scale of Justice"

26 x 28.5 " Colored Pencil.

 AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Hannah's Portal
Hannah's Portal

30 x22.5" Graphite Pencil 

 ORIGINAL & FINE ART GICLEE AVAILABLE FOR SALE

 

BIRDS

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Drifter
Drifter

26 x 20" Colored Pencil 
Northern Pygmy Owl
Northern Pygmy Owl

22 x 14” Colored Pencil on Linen

Reference courtesy of Steven G. Gnam, photographer

SOLD
Talk Turkey
Talk Turkey

Miniature series: 20 x 4" Colored Pencil on Linen.

SOLD
Reed State Park Maine Gull
Reed State Park Maine Gull

 10x8" Colored Pencil on Linen. 

SOLD
Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron

Miniature series: 5 x 3.5" Colored Pencil

AVAILABLE FOR SALE 
Marching Orders
Marching Orders

Late afternoon in Maine.  

Miniature series: 8x4" Colored Pencil on Linen.

AVAILABLE FOR SALE 
Gulls
Gulls

Perdido Key, Pensacola

25 x 10.5" Colored Pencil.

AVAILABLE FOR SALE

Blue Crab

A portrait should sum up the personality of the subject.

Blue Crab
Blue Crab

Bay Side, Perdido Key, Pensacola FL,

27 x 17"  Colored Pencil

CPSA International Exhibition 2014

AVAILABLE FOR SALE

 

STILL LIFES & ABSTRACTS

The patterns and rhythms of real life are the foundation of abstraction. 

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HOME GROWN
HOME GROWN

8x11” Colored Pencil on Linen

AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Still
Still

8x10” Colored pencil on Linen

SOLD
Winter Solstice
Winter Solstice

16 x 11" Color pencil
Periwinkle Pileup
Periwinkle Pileup

4.5 x 9" Colored Pencil on Linen

SOLD
Top of the Heap
Top of the Heap

This pretty much sums up politics for me. 

9x8" Colored Pencil on Linen

ORIGINAL SOLD

GICLEE PRINT AVAILABLE FOR SALE

 
Shadow Cat
Shadow Cat

10x8" Colored Pencil on Linen

AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes

Firefly on Headstone, 11 x 8" Colored Pencil on Linen

SOLD
Yellow Tullip
Yellow Tullip

18x18" Colored pencil on Silk

AVAILABLE FOR SALE

Stephanie's Snowman

This portrait was a Christmas present for a person who prides herself in crafting the best snowman every year. Because the portrait was commissioned in the summer, there was ample time to work out the composition. The client had a very clear idea in mind, featuring the snowman as the main character, but also including their three dogs, one sadly deceased.  Due to the clandestine nature of the project, I relied on client photos and suggestions throughout. Goofy hat and nubbly scarf were quietly stolen for me to use as props. Branches from the tree used for the arms were provided. Many angles of the yard were put together so I could at least suggest the real thing. This was a bit daunting, but in the end we managed the perfect Christmas present and I'm very proud of the results!

Stephanie's Snowman
Stephanie's Snowman

24 X 22" Colored Pencil

SOLD

Trinity Pigeons

 Pigeons roost in the Trinity Episcopal Church Cemetery, Manhattan, NYC- resting place of John James Audubon.

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Trinity Pigeon 1
Trinity Pigeon 1

SOLD

6" x 9” (approximate)

Colored Pencil on Silk

Part of a Triptych that is Available for Sale

 

 
Trinity Pigeon 2
Trinity Pigeon 2

SOLD

9" x 6” (approximate)

Colored Pencil on Silk

Part of a Triptych that is Available for Sale

 

 
Trinity Pigeon 3
Trinity Pigeon 3

SOLD

6" x 9” (approximate)

Colored Pencil on Silk

Part of a Triptych that is Available for Sale

 

 

ESCAPES & ICONIC PLACES

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Stonelick Covered Bridge, Clermont County Ohio
Stonelick Covered Bridge, Clermont County Ohio

30" x 20" Colored Pencil

FINE ART GICLEE AVAILABLE FOR SALE- CONTACT THE ARTIST
Buzzards of Shor Park
Buzzards of Shor Park

Miniature series: 18x 4", Colored Pencil on Linen

AVAILABLE FOR SALE -CONTACT ROW HOUSE GALLERY, MILFORD OH
Wellesley Town Hall
Wellesley Town Hall

22"x16" Colored Pencil

SOLD

FINE ART GICLEE AVAILABLE

Contact: Page Waterman Gallery, 26 Church St. Wellesley Ma, 02482.

 
Kevin's View
Kevin's View

Bailey Island Maine.

12 x 6" Colored Pencil on Linen.

SOLD
Respite
Respite

East Fork, Little Miami River

16 x12" Colored pencil 

ORIGINAL AND FINE ART GICLEE AVAILABLE FOR SALE-CONTACT THE ARTIST
Road Trip
Road Trip

Somewhere near Hocking Hills OH.

Miniature series: 3"x 5" Colored Pencil on Linen.  

SOLD
Kayaking on the Little Miami
Kayaking on the Little Miami

 Little Miami River in Milford OH.

Miniature series: 3x6" Colored Pencil

SOLD
Farmstead
Farmstead

Somewhere near Lancaster OH.

Miniature series: 3"x 5" Colored Pencil on Linen

SOLD
Portal
Portal

A view of the cove, Harpswell Maine.

12 x 8" Colored Pencil on Linen.

AVAILABLE FOR SALE- CONTACT THE ARTIST
East Fork,Little Miami from Valley View, Milford OH
East Fork,Little Miami from Valley View, Milford OH

Miniature Series: 4x6" Colored Pencil on Linen

AVAILABLE FOR SALE- CONTACT ROW HOUSE GALLERY, MILFORD OH

HORSES

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Trio
Trio

Three curious ponies wander toward the fence to visit.  Bur infested manes and tails are evidence of a summer spent happily out to pasture.

13"x8" Colored Pencil on Linen

AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Chief
Chief

Where's the sugar?

16x29.5"  Colored Pencil

ORIGINAL, ARTIST'S PERSONAL COLLECTION

FINE ART GICLEE AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Reunited
Reunited

Two horses separated for the winter months are placed together in their summer pasture. This is their moment of recognition. 

8" x 13.5" Colored Pencil on Linen

 AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Pueblo
Pueblo

Pueblo at sunset. Commissioned portrait using client reference photos.

Approximately 16x20" Colored Pencil

SOLD

 
Pueblo
Pueblo

Graphite Study of Pueblo for colored pencil portrait.

SAMPLE ONLY
Hauling Turnips
Hauling Turnips

Miniature Series: 5x 3.5" Colored Pencil in Linen

SOLD

FARM ANIMALS

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Shaker Sheep
Shaker Sheep

Miniature series: 4x 6" Color pencil on Linen

SOLD
Hailing Turnips
Hailing Turnips

Miniature series: 6x4" Colored Pencil on Linen

SOLD
Trio
Trio

Three ponies broke away from their heard to come investigate me. They've clearly had plenty to eat, while free ranging in their ample field.

13x8" Colored Pencil on Linen

AVAILABLE FOR SALE
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