Mitzi

Kathleen is our neighbour, and although she has a dog now, years ago she had this beautiful cat, Mitzi. She is a fantastic gardener, and must miss the pond that she had at her previous home. This painting is a tribute to Mitzi, and to that lovely garden hideaway in Vancouver.

The Classic Portrait

Do you admire someone from history? Is there an era that you would like to see yourself in? If you went to a costume party, who would you go as? Recently I got inspired to try painting portraits with a historical twist by putting contemporary people, portrait commissions, into fascinating settings. I love to paint what I see and capture the details, so  it was a thrill to copy the work of an old master into a modern portrait. I see it as a way to honor the original artist, and as a way for my modern subject to honor someone from history. Take Art, my husband, for example. He has a special admiration for Reformation theologian and scholar William Tyndale (1494 - 1536). He chose to be painted into this black and white portrait painted by an unknown artist in the 1530s as a way to pay homage to a great man. Can you see yourself in a classic painting?

Not So Far Away

I just love this pose of JB, comfortably leaning on his elbow(?) not unlike some people I know. If I had accidentally called him JR (as in JR Ewing), I wouldn't have been too far wrong. And yes, there's a story. There's always a story.

One day a while back, I got a nice email from Corinne, someone I didn't know. It seems she had travelled to Vancouver from her home near Dallas Texas sometime last fall. There she met someone that I also didn't know who had seen my paintings in a gallery in Ontario late last summer. Somehow pet portraiture came up in their conversation, and I was mentioned. Once home, Corinne emailed me, asking if I would paint a commerative portrait of her and husband Dave's late orange tabby, JB.

So from Ontario to Vancouver to Texas to Ontario and finally a painting delivered to Texas. Is is just me, or is the world getting smaller?

Sushi

This commission was done for Sonya, my supervisor at work, as a Christmas gift for her neighbour Sheila who owned Sushi. One of the challenges of this painting was to realistically depict the depth and intensity of the very dark fur, as well as capturing the detail of the light fur without it looking washed out.

Shanty

My cousin Heather asked me to do this commission of Shanty, in her memory. A great family dog, Shanty loved to go out on the sailboat, and run along the beach with Heather's boys, Cameron and Stewart. In fact, the photo that this painting was based upon, was taken just after one such west coast run. Ultimately, however, she was Heather's dog, and I was honored to paint this tribute to a beloved canine friend.

Katie and Raffles

After the studio tour, I slipped once again into a season without painting. First came the simultaneous training at two new part time jobs, then an illness, surgery and slow recovery. My dad suggested I paint while convalescing, but I just wasn't up for it. Although not physically demanding, painting takes mental energy, something like a chess game. Watching old movies was more my speed. Finally, in the fall, after a couple of trips away, I was ready for a fresh start.

A co-worker had seen my blog, and asked me to paint her aunt's two cats. This would be my first double portrait. Intended as a gift for Christmas, I had plenty of time to work on it, which was great because my time now had become so limited.

Katie, the tortoise shell, and the "marmalade" Raffles, are not friendly towards each other. Their posing together was not likely to happen, and to complicate it further, Robyn had to slip the reference photos to me without detection from her aunt, this being a surprise gift. It was a new challenge for me to coordinate the scale of the two images, crop and arrange the subjects into a unified piece.

I was struck by how similar these two cats were with our own, Friskey and Orville, shown in the photo.

Jersey Remembered

I was asked to paint another portrait of Jersey, this time from a photo of her standing in a field. I hadn't done a landscape, which really is what this would be, in a long time, so that would be a challenging change. Also, Tim and Melissa requested that it be done very large, to go over their mantle. Twenty-two inches by 30 inches seemed like a lot of paper after working for so long on an 8"x10" surface.

I wanted to convey the sense of bigness of the sky and field, and yet not loose Jersey in the landscape, since, after all, this was a painting about her. She will be remembered here in this harvest time field near the family cottage on Lake Huron.

Santana

Mark and Robin adopted this regal Belgian Shepherd cross from the London SPCA when Cassie and Hayley were very young. True to his shepherd calling, he faithfully watched over the children, keeping them safe by cottage lake or backyard pool. A loyal companion for fourteen years, the family will miss him this Christmas.

Chocolate Chunk

At 89 pounds, Chunky is one big chunk of chocolate lab. Labrador Retreivers come in three colours: yellow, black, and brown, which is known officially as chocolate. Jan and her family in Ingersoll really have their hands full with this very active and large one year old.

Lighting does interesting things to a solid colour, and I found it facinating to work with such suprisingly rich colour and shade variations.

Jersey

I have always had a fondness for a good old fashioned 'farm dog'. Perhaps this was due to the many stories my mom told of the great dog they had on their farm during the depression. Although I did not meet Jersey, it is clear that she was this kind of dog. She and her brother had been abandoned as pups and found wandering in the country. Janet's family adopted this noble collie shepherd cross and had many happy years with her.

Sambuca

When Mark John and Nanette got Sambuca as a kitten, they had no idea how large she would become. Long and lean, she is one of the largest short hair cats their vet has ever seen. Although rather shy, she is no stranger to the comforts of a cozy bed. With this painting, it was important to capture the many colours reflected in her jet black fur: blue, red, purple and green.

Bluejay

At my first studio tour exhibit, I was offered a commission to paint Deborah and Don's cocker spaniel. Gone, but certainly not forgotten, Bluejay's silky fur was so black that it had beautiful blue highlights. I enlarged a small portion of a good snapshot of Bluejay, and completed the painting by working quickly and steadily over the next couple of days . As it would happen, only hours after completion, I was emailed a much clearer image of him with the suggestion that this photo might be easier to work from. Deborah was very surprised that I had already tackled and completed my assignment. We arranged a time in the following week to get together. Meanwhile, I wondered how the painting would have turned out if I had worked from the second image. Finally, a couple of days before they arrived, I decided to give it a try. I think they were surprised to be offered a choice between two paintings. After some consideration, they chose the second one. Which one would you have chosen?

Montana

Montana, or Tana, is a Golden Retreiver owned by a Lisa, good friend of mine. I chose this pose to paint due to the sweet, alert expression that she had. Like most of her breed, she has proven to be a great family pet. Here was one time that she didn't have her favorite chew toy in her mouth!

Mitsy

This painting was done in memory of Dave and Esther's sweet cocker spainel poodle cross, Mitsy. Right from the start, she was a good fit for the family. She was a young adult when they got her, and she proved how bright she was on their first walk together, when she knew exactly which house was their's going home. She was a very special friend to their son, Paul.

Madison

A "doorstep baby", Madison and her littermates were found at the door of Woodstock's Wellington Animal Hospital when they were only two weeks old. The dedicated veterinary staff worked around the clock to keep these vulnerable kittens alive. Eventually Madison made her way to Barb, where she joined two other cats to become one of the "girls". Madison's rather aloof stare is emphasized by her beautiful natural eye liner markings.

This was my first commission, and the challenge here was to work with a very small portion of a snapshot. While not an easy task, I learned that it could be done.