Fur-bruary 2: Cocoa The Miniature Gray Poodle

Photographed a few years back for a lovely elderly client who spent an awful lot of time primping and fluffing this fancy grey girl named Cocoa. I started painting her last year then stopped because I became increasingly frustrated with the design of her portrait. So, last night since I’ve already committed to 28 portraits I completed her in about an hour. Compared to the initial start of this portrait I spent 3 whole frustrated hours figuring her out. All the paintings are painted in procreate and I’m constantly learning about a new tool or a fancy new sophisticated way to speed things up. She has texture and depth to her fluffy curly wurly self. I’m loving this new rapid last minute speed paint. Happy with my results!

Fur-bruary 1 2021 Pet Portrait Challenge-Cover Star Lulu The Maltese

 

Today is the official Fur-bruary month of my pet photography portraits transformed into a pet painting. I’m challenging myself yet again to see if I’m motivated enough to post a new portrait every day for 29 days. All of the portraits will be displayed with a soft pink background and will include dogs as well as cats. Most portraits were photographed years ago and the paintings were painted last year plus I will post some fresh new faces to makes things interesting. Fur-bruary is more than likely a hashtag on Instagram so I’m sure I’ve got post there as well as I’ve taken a reprieve from social media for about a couple of months now. Many things on my mind plus December and January are the most challenging and depressing months for me so the positive mental energy is never present. But here I am in a new year with new positive outlooks and the motivation is slowly returning. The cover star is Lulu. She was a shy and sweet as kitten lil Maltese puppy dog. I’m really happy with the way she turned out! 

Fish pate is the only wet food my cat prefers.

 Creating something that’s unlike what I normally create because it’s important to take a step back and look at your progress as an artist and see where it is you are heading towards and also mixing up the subjects. I could sit and study draw some animal anatomy all day and wish I could be better at drawing painting environments. All I need is motivation to keep me going. Practice makes progress right? I sat down and thought for a while about various types of foods. I drew human food and in particular I of course zoned in on the pet food. Cat food. Drew some cat paws. Lynx point Siamese paws. Sketched a silly drawing of Razzy the black cat because she always has a mad look on her face. And then the fish. But only pate variety. Cats are finicky about there wet food. I love graphic design and really cool product labels so this is what o came up with. I’ll turn it into a series of pet food because it’s fun. Simple as that. Fish pate for cats. Nutritious and simply meow-velous. 

October Kitty cats

  

September and October have been the month for kitty cat art. Cute and fat and simply adorable cats (in this case kittens) I found for reference from Pinterest have been my art project lately. This fall like weather creates a mood like no other and totally inspires me to practice cat anatomy. Most of these are painted with the oil paint (In procreate) because that’s what I’m currently obsessed with and it brings an Alla Prima impressionist vibe which I absolutely love. Loose and quick paint strokes using a minimal palette and no black. Soft edges and little detail. Just enough for the eyes and fur. The series has also an 80’s vibe with the spatter/grid background. Which is a look I’m improving on. Because I can’t draw backgrounds. Yet. This is my solution for now. Impressionist 1880’s meets retro 1980’s. Absolutely.

 

Doug. Dougie. Douglas.

This month last year Leia rescued a 2 year old dog for herself because she was lonely and knew that she would be able to exercise more because of him. 3 weeks later he ended up being too much work and she didn’t have anytime for him. Living in a small kennel all day and all night is probably worse than being trapped in a shelter for a month.

 Furby had passed a month earlier so I had the space and time to commit to him. I did not ask for a dog so my energy towards him was pretty negative and it was a struggle to discipline him. I guess maybe I was still grieving over furby. A new young puppy dog is hard to train and dedicating time is difficult. Planning for a dog has to be well thought out. My motivation was just not there. I would say it took about 4 months for me to finally feel like I could actually bond with him. My habits now are not only brushing my teeth and going to work but walking every day for 30-45 minutes. And playing skeeball in the house. My life with Dougie/Doug/Douglas has taught me patience and commitment. I’m a dog mom. After a long day at work I look forward to spending time with him and creating art at home. I’m pretty content with that routine. Doug is 3 years young this month. Next year we’ll celebrate at my new home. Backyard and all. Happy birthday Doug Dougie Douglas.