Commissioned Portrait Painting

I wanted to share my recent portrait painting and how I went about creating it.  A previous client contacted me and asked if I could paint a portrait of her best friend, her fiance and their dog.  This was a very special assignment as her friends fiance has terminal cancer, so I wanted to make sure I did the very best I could.  She sent me several images, some tiny and very pixelated, but out of all the images she sent, these are the ones I selected to create the portrait.

I went about extracting the subjects and tried different positions and finally came up with one that I could work with.  After making several adjustments in photoshop, I opened the image in Corel Painter 11 and began to paint.  This is the result.

The client was very happy with the the way it turned out.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful afternoon.

What a Cute Pooch

Thought I'd work with Painter 12 today.  I've had it for quite awhile now and have even taken a class on the newest features, but I have to say that I'm a bit frustrated--especially with the clone features.  No doubt I'll figure it out, however, with lot's and lot's of practice.

This sweetie is from an image by Bill Kuffrey posted at www.publicdomainpictures.net, my favorite public domain site. Bill has been gracious enough to allow me to post to my FineArtAmerica Account.  You can find purchase greeting cards and prints here.

We have a beautiful, but warm fall day here in Minnesota.  Next weekend the hubs and I are going up to Taylor's Falls to take lot's of fall pictures and I hope to have some new fall paintings to post.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful day.

Mr. Schnauzer

Here's another pet portrait from an image I saw on Public Domain Pictures.net. I thought he could use a little color, so I boosted the blues, and used traditional brush work in Corel Painter 11.  As always, I like to use Photoshop for all my adjustments.

Some days, I don't have much to say.  Today is one of those days.  I do hope that everyone is having a glorious day.

Mountain Streams and a Little Dog Too!

This week I've been experimenting with several digital plug-ins in addition to the usual digital paintbrushes that I normally use.  Here are two more images that I've used from the public domain website that I particularly like:  http://www.publicdomainpictures.net.

The first is a sweet little pooch with bows in his hair.  In addition to painting this little dog, I also used a little program called FotoSketcher to give him a watercolor effect.  You can find the original image here.  I also obtained permission from the owner of the image to post this to my Fine Art America site where I hope to benefit animal rescue organizations through the sales of my pet portraits.

The second is a oil painting done solely in Photoshop from an image from the same website.  I used the Art History Brush for this painting, taking several snapshots throughout the process to work from.  You can find the original here.

I hope you enjoy and be sure to leave comments.  I love them.  Also be sure to check out Artists in Blogland here.  If you are artist, this might be the place for you too!

Leo

This is Leo.  Leo hasn't been feeling well lately.  He was just diagnosed with Lyme's Disease and he's also getting up in years--15 years old. He was looking pretty haggard in the image I was working from, so I made sure to restore him to his former glory.  I'm posting three different crops, two of which I did a lot of post processing on...those are posted on FineArtAmerica.  You can order greeting cards and prints HERE.  Anyway, I thought he had such a sweet expression, I just had to paint him.

We are having beautiful weather here in Minnesota, although we will be getting super hot in the next couple of days.  I just can't get over how quickly life is passing by--it's almost scary--and, only 4 more months til Christmas.  Oh My Goodness!  Anyway, I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Lady

This is Lady.  It is thought that Lady is half Doberman and half Grey Hound and is a rescue. Her human mom says this about Lady: "She does not have an aggressive or mean cell in her body. I could take a steak out of her mouth and she would let me. She’s very sensitive and runs and hides if she thinks we’re angry at her or anything else. When she does screw up and she knows it, she will slink over to you and put her head in your lap....her way of apologizing."  

You can purchase greeting cards and prints Here.  A portion of the proceeds will benefit animal rescue organizations.  If you are interested in having your pet portrait done, please send me a digital (jpg) copy of the image at janewoodenhorse@msn.com. I'd love to paint your pet.

Puginese

Well, I had to paint Winston again, this  time I chose a more neutral palette.  I've been trying to come up with other methods and styles.  I will again be offering greeting cards and reproductions here.  If you would like to see your pet painted, just send me a nice jpg via email. A portion of the proceeds will benefit animal rescue organizations.

Miss Molly

This is Miss Molly.  Miss Molly belongs to a blogger friend who graciously allowed me to paint her precious pup.  I have to admit, however, that she was easy to paint as the image of her was so wonderful to begin with.  Molly's owner, Kate, says that  Molly is almost 7 years old and is a very sweet girl.  "She loves to run and her favorite thing to do is to try to herd us over to her food bowl!" Kate says.  I can just see her trying to do just that.  Don't we have such clever animals?  Anyway, here is Molly's portrait. She's a beauty!

If you would like to have your pet portrait painted, please send a jpg image to me at janewoodenhorse@msn.com.  Proceeds from any sales will benefit animal adoption/rescue organizations.  I will also send you copy of the painting as a thank you for allowing me to use your image.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Winston

This is Winston.  Winston belongs to my son, Eric, and his wife, Anne.   Winston is a mixed breed--Pug and Pekinese--or Puginese for short.  He's still a puppy and according to Anne, is still quite exhausting.  I think he's just cute, cute, cute. 

You can purchase prints or greeting cards HERE.  As with my other animal paintings, proceeds will benefit animal rescue organizations.

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend.  Happy Saturday!

Oscar

This is Oscar.  Oscar belongs to a former neighbor whom we miss very much.  Oscar has been known to dress up for Halloween as The Oscar Meyer Wiener.  Oscar is a Toy Dachshund and so, so, cute. 

You can order prints or greeting cards HERE.  Proceeds from sales will benefit Animal Rescue Organizations.  If you would like to have your pet portrait painted with proceeds benefiting rescue  organizations, please send me digital jpg's of your pet at janewoodenhorse@msn.com .  Please include information about your pet also.

I hope everyone has an awesome day!

Cody Girl

This is Cody Girl who belongs to my blogger friend, Kimmie.  Kimmie is the owner and administrator of Digital Whisper where challenges are posted in several different groups each week.  You can find a button for Digital Whisper on the right, if interested.  We have a great time over there and learn a lot, too!

As with the other canine paintings, you can order greeting cards and prints from Fine Art America.  And part of the proceeds will benefit animal rescue organizations.

I hope everyone is having an awesome day.  We had torrential rains earlier today...lot's of thunder, but it did cool things down a bit.

Rosebud

This is Rosebud. Blogger friend Haley sent me this photo of her mother's Boston Terrier Mix.  Rosebud was adopted from the Lynchburg, VA Humane Society.  When I began to paint her, I just felt her to be full of color.  I love that one ear is standing up and the other is flopped over.  So cute.  As with my other pup paintings, this one is also available on Fine Art America.  You may purchase Greeting Cards and reproductions HERE.  A portion of the proceeds will  benefit Animal Welfare Organizations.

I am still looking for great pet images to paint...and not just dogs.  I'll paint cats, kitties, birds, really anything.  Please feel free to send me you pet pics or other cute animal pics.  My email address is janewoodenhorse@msn.com

I hope everyone is having a great day.

Zoe and Pauli

This is Zoe and Pauli. They were both adopted mutts--Zoe from a Humane Society in Virginia and Pauli from the Animal Protection League in Cleveland, OH.  They belong to Haley, who heard that I was looking for pet photos to paint. I'm so happy at how they turned out.  As with Liza Jane from my earlier post, I will be posting this on Fine Art America, with some of the proceeds going to support Animal Welfare Organizations.  You can purchase greeting cards and reproductions HERE

And, if you have some cute photos of your pets and would like to see them painted, please send them to me at janewoodenhorse@msn.com

Here's hoping you all have a wonderful day!

Liza Jane Waiting For Her Brothers

This is Liza Jane.  Liza Jane belongs to my new blog friend Becky and her family of humans.  This is the first pet portrait that I have listed on Fine Art America where those who desire can purchase prints, canvases and greeting cards, while some of the proceeds from the sales of the paintings' benefit Animal Welfare such as the Animal Humane Society.  Here is the link: Greeting Cards/Reproductions

I will always be looking for new pets to paint; dogs, cats, birds, so please send your jpg's to my email address at janewoodenhorse@msn.com.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Sweet Sammy

I've been so full of nostalgia lately, painting Eric from an old photo, and now a painting of Sammy, our pup from years ago.  We didn't have Sammy for very long as he got sick and died, but we remember him fondly and we remember him often.  This painting was from a snap taken shortly after he got sick.

If you have a digital jpg of a pet, I'm looking for new images to practice with, and to possibly sell as greeting cards in the future.  Proceeds from sales will benefit animal welfare organizations.

Have a wonderful day!   To purchase Greeting Cards/Reproductions  A portion of the proceeds will benefit animal welfare organizaitons.

Our Sweet Dog Callie

Today I finished a painting of our dog, Callie.  I changed things up a bit and painted the entire thing in Photoshop CS5 using the new mixer brush tools.  I have to admit that I have been putting this off-using the mixer brush tools, that is.  But I recently received a new DVD from Fay Sirkis where she explains the use of these tools so well, I took the plunge and this is the result. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Jane