Before & After's
Colorful Cat
This was totally an experiment, that I feel turned out really great! And it was so fun to do. I’ll probably be doing a lot more of this type in the future. I love how it turned out.
Obviously, all I used of the photo was the core shape of the cats face, and of course, the eyes. Oh those eyes…
I think this was the first, or maybe second, painting where I trying out the all black background. Which I also loved! So I kept on doing black backgrounds for a while.
Two Colors of Retriever
I did the orange one first, and then the blue one. And loved them both. Of course, it was my friend’s wonderful original photo that made these possible. That lighting contrast is especially compelling.
The dog is a ‘Silver Labrador’, a sub-bred of Chocolate Labradors. And that wonderful light brown coat gave me lots of clear color variations to paint from – as I was ‘experimenting with color variations’.
Glowing Cat
I did this one for this interesting stock photo that I bought for the occasion. I like the lighting affect. Again, good lighting contrasts help make to create an interesting painting.
Renée In Leaves ~ Stained Glass Look
This painting is ‘mixed media’, I suppose. Acrylic and permanent marker (red: Sharpie!) on stretched canvas. An style experiment I did four of back in 2022. See the Gallery for the others. I really like them. And they were fun to do! Which is fairly high on my priority list.
Crazy Cat Colors
This cat’s name really is ‘Crazy’. And, of course, I painted her in rather unusual colors for a cat. Purposely, of course!
But look at her eyes in the photograph! How often have you seen light blue eyes – on a cat?
Magical Horse in the Stars
I always wanted to do a horse. They’re such magnificent creatures! And so elegant.
This is one of my favorite paintings. The horse’s straight on stance. The part of the mane flowing off to (our) right. The dapple gray markings that give the coat an very interesting pattern. Especially, the way some the spots appear blue…
Also, it really lends itself well to the black background that I’m become so fond of. This horse was just begging to be painted!
The mane was the hardest part. I drew it on with a chalk pencil, over and over, until I got it to look soft and flowing like a woman’s hair. Which took a while.
Holly King in the Snow
As I understand it, the Holly King is a character from Celtic mythology. He represents & rules the Winter. Along with his brother the Oak King (who I also plan to paint), who represents & rules the Summer. Each reigning from Equinox to Equinox. And at the height of their powers, during Solstice.
Some say that the Holly King, is the mythological fore-bearer of Santa Claus.
I made this photo from about 7 different photos. Thankfully, we have graphic design programs! So we creative types can make Even mythological subjects come to life!
