Molly II

Molly is a gorgeous, 14 year old, tennis ball obsessed girl! She is affectionate, enthusiastic for all things that involve her, from a cuddle to a long walk, but her absolute favourite will be a good game involving a tennis racquet and ball! She will often make her opinions known, whether it is about dinner, or escorting her 'mum' to the train station in the morning.
Maria

I struggled somewhat to get this painting to work since in the photo Molly was quite a distance from the camera and she lacked a lot of detail. I'm learning what a difference the quality for the reference photo makes. Anyway, I think it still shows her very sweet nature and she looks like she's just resting after a romp around the park chasing her ball.

Please visit again tomorrow to see a special feathered friend called Chinook!

Molly

Molly of Glengara, a gorgeous 21 month old Cavoodle latte in colour who charms every person she meets with her very friendly nature and silky soft fur and her ever ready licks, she is so full of energy I think we could run the village on it, she absolutely loves her walks around the village, not to mention barking at any other dogs she meets and when at home is on duty every waking hour in case somebody attempts to pass the house.
Phil and Dianna

Molly lives on my street and wanted to be part of the pet portrait challenge. She's very excitable when visitors come (in this case me) so we had to bribe her with treats to take some photos of her... you can guess what has her undivided attention here!! Somehow though it turned out like she's having a fanciful dream about something rather wonderful in her doggy future. Tomorrow we have another Molly!

Simba

My name is Simba and I am a three year old Chocolate Burmese.  I am an Aussie, currently living in Singapore. I have a gorgeous but annoying younger sister called Poppy and Bella and Liam are my besties! I have an infatuation with socks and I love to carry them around the apartment like 'prey' and leave them as gifts for my owners. I also like to show them how much I love them by rubbing myself all over their leather shoes and handbags. I have mastered using the human toilet since moving overseas and I'm very proud of my achievements! My favourite place to sleep is on top of the fridge where its warm and I have a birds eye view!
Vanessa

Simba was the first photo so far in the pet portraits challenge that was taken using a flash (as opposed to natural light). It confused me initially trying to work out if the light was cool or warm and correspondingly, whether the shadows were cool or warm. Possibly because there is so little shadow area and a very cool purple half tone light... so my conclusion is that flash light is in fact cool which creates warm shadows. I think painting natural light is definitely easier as the planes of the form are clearer and there is a more obvious separation of shadow and light areas. All good experience though and she came up nearly as cute as she is in real life. Tomorrow we have Molly!!

Hazel

This is Hazel, a very happy and energetic 18 month old Border Collie. She loves to round things up; humans, other dogs and anything else that walks, crawls and even flies past! She’s into all sorts of games like Frisbee, catch, tip and fetch (although she hasn’t quite gotten the hang of the bringing it back part yet)! She’s always learning new things and has perfected the handshake and is now working on collecting the paper. She’s a beautiful puppy and attracts a lot of attention wherever she goes – which, of course she never gets sick of!
Ayling family

The lovely Hazel marks half way through my pet portraits challenge. Being thrown into intensive painting for a purpose like this has forced me to figure out many things about the way I work, sit, time manage, rest and not overwhelm my mum with all my crazy ideas! I'm also chipping away at the businessy side of things like setting up a cataloguing system for my work and keeping track of invoices and other things to do with numbers. So it's a busy time but I'm looking forward to seeing where this creative journey takes me.

Thank you again to everyone who has participated in the challenge so far. As there is no obligation to buy your painting I won't send you an invoice unless you let me know you would like to purchase it. Just pop me off an email buy clicking here... Have a great weekend and come back on monday to meet Simba!!

"Linear thinking can take us from A to B but imagination can take us anywhere".
Albert Einstein

Paddy

Paddy is a small poodle cross who has been with us for twelve years. He loves his daily walks both in the morning and evening. His favourite summer past time is chasing lizards in the garden and he waits very patiently for them to reappear. Paddy is a great joy to our grand-daughters and usually gets greeted before anyone else. He has been affectionately ‘adopted’ by many residents in our village and welcomes into the house whoever may knock at our door. He has been known to visit various residents for morning treats and in one case used sit by their fridge in passive anticipation. In his later years he has settled well into a retirement lifestyle - walk, rest, forage, rest, walk, eat and sleep but all the time making sure we were still here.
Russell

I decided to do Paddy uncropped as the photo wasn't greatly detailed and I think he turned out really cute. I met Paddy a few weeks ago but sadly he has since passed away. Sorry Nancy and Russell, I know he was very dear to you. I hope this painting will stir good memories and make you smile when you see it.

I have to say that a painting a day is quite a challenging pace. There is a movement of Daily Painters (see Daily Paintworks for example) and to be honest I don't know how they keep it up! I think most who post daily, paint 6x6"s and that would make some difference. I'm trying to paint quickly but as true to the photos as possible to catch the personality of each pet. Anyhow, nearly half way there...

Please stay tuned tomorrow for Hazel!

Daisy

Daisy will be 9 in November. She's a very good natured girl, obedient, loving and especially loves children. She's an extremely gentle dog, doesn't bark and seems to need to help with all the household chores!
Gail

Daisy is an adorable dog, maybe it's her ears! I think it turned out to be a happy little painting with the yellow background.

I rearranged the painting space in my room the other day so that the wardrobe mirrors are behind me. It's so helpful to see the painting in reverse because the eyes get tired after a while and can no longer see drawing and value mistakes. Having a quick glance in the mirror is like looking at the painting after a 10 minute break, mistakes leap out at you from everywhere! Note to self: when I move back to my own place set up a mirror behind me.

I went to meet my new local picture framer yesterday to discuss economical framing options for these little paintings. I think we've come up with a good solution which works out about $33. The framer is making me up a prototype which I'll photograph and post on my blog when I pick it up next week, with detailed description so you can ask for the same thing at your own framer if you like the idea. More about that next week. Please come again tomorrow to see Paddy!

Kooka

'Our Kooka' is a wild bird that has been visiting us on and off in the Blue Mts over the past eighteen months or so, since around January 2012. She starts to appear on our balcony most mornings for a very tiny portion indeed of organic mince meat and soon gets into a daily routine lasting several months. Then one day, all of a sudden, she flies off never to be seen again, or so we think. Lo and behold, our kookaburra reappears four months later to resume her daily visits for many more months, becoming so familiar with her hosts that she will quite happily sit on the feeder's lap. Sadly for the latter, she has yet again flown the coop, at least for a while.
Marnie A

I was really looking forward to painting Kooka, since I've met her personally on my aunt Marnie's balcony in the Blue Mountains... as it happens, I really struggled to get the background to work. In the photo there were the railings of the balcony to the left and behind but because the light was hitting them quite strongly and Kooka was in shade, they were too distracting. I scraped and repainted them in every non-distracting way I could think of and eventually because time was limited (one pet a day!!) I decided to paint the background without the railings... Tomorrow we have the lovely Daisy!