Did you know?

As I'm doing my usual Friday morning catch-up, it occurs to me that you might be interested in knowing a few things about me.  You see me posting my art work fairly regularly on Facebook and my Pepper Portraits blog, but did you know that besides being a completely committed artist, I hold two part time jobs?  Winning a few awards and getting published, does not guarantee a regular pay check.  Nope, I go months sometimes without a sale.  I'm married to a wonderful guy who pays most of the bills, but by no means makes enough money for me to do art 24-7. I have to at least cover groceries and vet bills, which with 2 older dogs and three cats, adds up, believe you me! So I continue to work as a vet assistant in a small animal veterinary practice.  I've been working with vets since 2011- started in my 40's and still doing doggy yoga as I near 60.  I feel like a thirty year old with  no time to get old! My other job is a gallery portrait artist- picture framer -Girl Friday for a lovely little gallery, in a haunted brick building, in the small river town of Milford Ohio.  There I teach portrait classes, frame picture, assist hanging shows and whatever else they might need of me.

So please don't romanticize the business of art.  It is not easy.  It does not pay well. I stick my neck out everyday in hopes it does not get chopped off:)

Stripes Hooligan is in Art Comes Alive 2015

I was just informed that my colored pencil painting  "Stripes Hooligan" was accepted into ADC's ACA 2015 exihbition in Cincinnati. https://www.facebook.com/ArtComesAliveCincy?fref=ts

That is a lot of letters!  It is a fancy affair.  I might actually have to get dressed up:)

 

Christmas rush!

I just finished two small paintings for a lovely client who wished to create the perfect gifts for her two children:  table top original portraits of their two dogs. Each child chose a puppy fourteen years ago. They are now gray in the muzzle and a little slower, but otherwise healthy. The children, both in college, miss their pups. I spent a few hours one afternoon, photographing and getting to know the dogs, while also learning about the family and the mom. The photographs and expressions were chosen by her. We wished to capture each dog's personality in a tiny 5x7 head shot. This is not an easy task. In fact, a lot can be lost in one small tick of the pencil. I struggled with these. There was concern that the dog Ed, looking at the viewer and pleading to be petted, might appear to be giving dominant eye contact.  Thanks to my husband's suggestion, a  touch of dark to the eyebrow made the difference in the perceived expression. The other dog, Lucy held a strange pose which finally necessitated the inclusion of parts of her foreleg; otherwise her head would have seemed tipped over.

I decided to use colored linen mat as the surface to give these a painterly feel. Lucy, who is mostly black, is painted on a dark blue mat and Ed, who has a lot of browns and reds, is on a red mat. Using  colored mat board, even if  completely covered with pigment, is similar to an under paint wash and provides tone.

When my client finally saw the finished pieces she was completely satisfied. This is a blessing, because I never know what a client will think until they have the art in hand. Now I can relax for a bit and paint something new, something BIGGER.

Lucy finished

I used mostly Prismas and Luminance cp's with mineral spirits on 100% rag mat board.  I'm almost sad I darkened the foreground.  It's hard to know what to do once you have taken the plunge.  Even if you photo shop values into the comp during the designing stages, there's the perspective and "reality"aspect.  Would I leave a detailed background and a blank foreground?  Wouldn't that be odd?  My thought was that subtle roughed in details and shadowy earth tones would support the portrait without busying it up too much.  What do you think?

Doberman Pincher WIP

Lucy is coming along.  Her coat colors are a gigantic challenge. I have hundreds of colored pencils rolling around on the drafting table! The use of mineral spirits was crucial. Tweaking will come later. I am going to set this aside for a little while to work on something else.  Plenty left to do, but I'm "Artist blind."

Portrait commission WIP of Lucy the Doberman Pincher

I'm having a little trouble with my rag mat board surface holding up to all the color pencil layers.  One thing I've found: odorless mineral spirits when allowed to over saturate breaks down my surface.  I've since switched back to good old regular mineral spirits, but the damage was already done.  -Came close to starting all over, but was able to dip and dab color where needed. The detailing is just about impossible.  Working fixative allows a little repair.  Otherwise, the piece is coming along. I will never return to odorless mineral spirits.  Thank goodness for windows and fans!