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!

Ko Ko

Ko Ko is a 5 year old Australian Mist. Very affectionate, he dribbles with joy when being patted. His days are spent lolling in the sun, curled up next to his brother Kossie. His great loves are: having his ears licked clean by my dog, Buddy; licking cattachinos (cappuccino milk froth) off the kitchen bench (!); sitting on the top shelf of the bookcase and flinging books to the floor; and sharpening his claws on any soft furnishings that happen to be handy when the urge comes upon him.
Vicki

It was fun to paint Ko Ko because we're the best of friends... he always comes running to greet me when I visit Vicki and he won't leave me alone until we've had a full and generous cuddle. I didn't quite finish the Kookaburra today, but will post him tomorrow, stay tuned!

Pet Portraits Challenge update

Greetings! The first week of my Pet Portraits challenge is complete and there are 3 weeks still to go. I'm happy to say the response I've had has been awesome and now I have a pet to paint for each day of the challenge. I'm full up!! Thank you so much to everyone who has sent me photos of their beautiful pets. They are wonderfully various, from tiny to great, furry to feathered!

During this four week challenge there is no obligation to buy your pet portrait but if you would like to, it will be at a reduced price of $100 ($75 for the first 5) including postage. If you decide to buy your portrait it will be ready to ship to you around 2 weeks after it has been posted on the blog. Just let me know if you would like to purchase and I will send you an invoice and ship it off to you as soon as it's varnished and ready to go. If you live close by I might be able to home deliver!

Of course I would still love to paint your pet after the challenge is over. From then on Pet Portraits will be by commission. I will post up sizes and prices in the coming week, as well as my recommendation for an economical way to frame your pet portrait (stay tuned)...

Thank you again for all the positive feedback you have given me, I'm very grateful and feel encouraged to keep painting!!! Until tomorrow...

Jake

Jake is a 5 year old Hungarian Vizsla cross who we nickname our Velcro puppy. He loves to lean against people and can't ever seem to get close enough. He loves to play ball on the beach, defend his family from any unknown dangers and takes great joy in finding the sunniest spot in the yard to lie down in - currently my veggie patch!
Liz

Painting Jake was quite a challenge for me. When I started planning the painting I realised he's actually in dappled sunlight which had me somewhat confused about what was sunlight (warm) and what was a lighter part of him in shade (cool). I think I got there in the end. Stay tuned for next week's pet portraits, including a kookaburra!!