Working with more greeting card and T shirt ideas, taking the image from the original painting and simplifying it. This is Daisy, the sweetest, most gentle giant you'd ever hope to meet.
I have been taking my paintings to Bellevue Fine Art Reproduction for the past few years so that I can document my work in the highest quality possible on earth. Thank you BFAR! The images are awesome! I just had to offer to the world my appreciation for the fine work done by Scott, Tomoko, Redd, Syd, Amanda & JJ the dog.
Come to think of it, I think JJ needs a portrait. She asks every time I come by. But this is William, lover of kongs and all things fun, and a fine scan indeed.
This is Zeus, who posed for me for a painting of another German Shepherd. I didn't have adequate photos of the original dog from which to create a portrait and the dog had died, so I had to recruit a local "look-alike" as a model. The client rejected this painting so I started another one and continued working on her portrait until I achieved something she liked. But I kept this painting of Zeus, since I liked the portrayal. I wasn't sure what to do with it. It is years later now from when I first painted this Shepherd, but I recently felt inspired to finish it. I changed the background and placed this large and rather fearsome-looking animal in a girly lavender background of butterflies and bluebirds. I like the contrast and the implications. Zeus is a sweetheart of a dog.
Izzy and Justus crossed the bridge ahead of Phil, and I'm pretty sure, they were there on Saturday greeting him as he joined them. Celia is doing ok.
A funny little story about this painting: Phil and Celia brought the painting back to my studio a few weeks after taking it home. They noticed a problem which they wanted corrected, and which I remedied. However, I had already had the painting photographed so Celia is still missing her sock in this version.
In the effort to make a painting "more better", sometimes I look back on what I was trying to improve and think maybe I should have let it be. But unless I reach the knowing place with it, where nothing is prodding me for change, I have to keep going. This is a painting about the giddiness of a dog that knows it is loved, and the serenity that comes from loving. Painting 1 got concept, painting 2 got the sky, but it's painting 3 that captured the emotion of both subjects. Now, the sky is beckoning. I like the contrast of the churning, threatening clouds in painting 2 but the soft embracing sky of painting 3 fits the mood.
nancy@dogloverart.com 206 941 9663
