Dogs in August AKA Doggust 2021-1/2 way through the month-my fave dog drawing

 Doggust is a Instagram yearly drawing challenge every August started by a few dog lover artists that has been steadily growing every year. Draw a different dog every day in August or just draw the same dog differently every day for 31 days. I challenged myself last year and completed all 31. This year I’m halfway through the month and am on a roll-I can appreciate the daily practicing of drawing/painting of dogs. I know I struggle with my drawing skills and so I feel this is a fantastic way to speed up honing my skills. I feel I really have improved a bunch and my art style has def evolved. I just have to trust process of drawing/painting and believe it will in the end turn into something worthy to appreciate. This lil guy/gal is currently my fave. Soft pastels and dry brush for that doggy texture! I’m loving the dark and moody textural background I’ve created-I feel like I have to bring the velvet painting vibe back to the future. Goal is to focus in like a laser on the puppy dog subject and his layers of fur texture. A white background distracts and is quite blinding to me-now to experiment with ways for final output on to a dark textured paper without losing the depth and color. Dogs of summer ……

Ginger kitty cat Milo

Razzy relaxes in the cat window

Layers of acrylic paint on repurposed 16 x 20” canvas

Blocking out the values always begins to look like crap

Milo the ginger orange tabby kitty cat

Milo the adopted ginger kitty cat has been on my mind to paint digitally and traditionally. I have done both and can appreciate each form of painting! With traditional you have the planning and prepping and purchasing and gathering and focusing just right in the just right space with the mixing of the just right now paints. Touching and blobbing and scraping and wetting the colors are a fantastic way to mentally free your mind-creating something tangible that includes sweet textures and interest is deeply satisfying. 

Procreate oil painting of Milo

Traditional painting for me has always been using acrylics-however this digital painting I created in procreate on my 11” iPad Pro using my Apple Pencil was painted using the oil paints which has a lovely feel about them-the pressure and colors and textures can result in something quite unique-I get in a comfy spot on my sofa and spend about and hour - no layers - no blending - dark to light - patchwork method - random texture to maintain the abstraction! This is key! So I love them both. Ginger cats are sweet and silly. So I’m obsessed. 

Strategies to get through artists block

 Artists block is simply a feeling like your purpose in life is done. You wake up from an awfully no good sleep, walk the dog, spend nine hours at work, eat and go to bed. Staying stuck and trapped in that routine is pretty dull. Not the worst, but dull. So I’m creating a series. Of 35mm photography. Of Doug the dog. Of YouTube channel for my art. Another YouTube channel for Leias home movies. Painting digital pets art. And painting traditional pet art. All while wrangling a silly semi obedient high energy doggy. And leading a team of 17 backstage warehouse folks at my nine to five job. Did I mention I have to write this blog? It’s no bother because I’ve chosen to post monthly. YouTube is weekly. And creating something from nothing is daily. This dog photography series of doug should be good. For me. And whoever else cares. Artists block for me is that I can’t seem to get anything completed. My focus can be all over the place. I seem to hop from one idea to the next almost completing it fully. I want to multitask but I think that can be bad. Mentally. So I’m somewhat reaching my destination. Slowly but surely. I suppose if I had no ideas that would be simply awful. Leias birthday is coming up and I have a super duper present for her! -do you see how my mind shifts? I can’t wait for her to see it. Artist block? I’ve plenty of external motivators and some internal ones. I should take the time to identify those one day. Goals. 

The first thing I see when I walk in through my front (back) door!

Update! This is the new and improved nook/entryway. Art and plants. Simple. Dougie approves. Love

 My front door to my apartment is my back door-so I needed a work of art that spoke to me and reduced my stress levels every time I turn the key and enter into my cozy pad. This photograph was shot in downtown Copenhagen in 2010 during one of our few and far between  (Leia and I) vacations. When I saw her standing there checking out the cool graffiti on the door the composition just fell into place. A favorite shot since that time-so 2 years ago I had an idea to blow up the image and somehow throw it up on the wall in my home in some sort of cool fashion. The size of the canvas is 20 x 30”. The finish is a metallic glossy coat-I’ve spray mounted it to a old canvas that I really didn’t care about anymore so I’ve finally repurposed that and voila here is where it will live! Ignore the mess below-wip of course. I love graphic design and I also love traditional art as well but my style is modern graphic vintage eclectic. (?) Making it all flow eventually in my new pad. Leia is at the front door(along with the WIP mess)!!! One step at a time. 

New home. New pad.

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Put up a gallery wall of my completed pieces today in hopes that it motivates me to get moving on my painting projects! I still have a big mess to sort through before I can get started but sometimes you just have to get going. And just do it for crying out loud. Dougie is super settled in and loves the backyard! The new smells are driving him crazy and I love that! Mental stimulation is gooood! I’m almost settled in my new pad and I truly love it!

 

Your mindset during a move.

     

  
   Protecting plants and fragile item takes time and CARE! Don’t ever skimp!  

Kraft paper and lots of lil boxes is a must have for the plants!

Wrap it all just to be safe. Seriously. You will not regret. 

Saran Shrink Wrap from ALDI is a must have for the breakables!

My ultimate plan was to buy a house when my lease on my apartment was up April 1 2021. It was serious and then prices skyrocketed. I said-no thanks I’m not over paying 30k for a house. So in January this year I knew I needed to find a new home. Purged 3 carloads in January-one was full of clothes that was donated to the open door mission. The second and third load went to hand me ups charity. I went apartment touring to 4 different locations and finally settled on the fourth one. I’ve lived in a 3000sf house 3 bathroom, this 1100sf apartment -2 bathroom and soon in 3 days I’m completely downsized to 700sf with only one bathroom to clean. Yes please.

 I’m moving from a super icky brown town (carpet and walls ugh) for 3.5 years- to a brand new super gray and black and white (walls and wood floor yay) smaller, cheaper that has a spectacular (wooded area) view. My home will be my art studio.

For 3 months my mind has been in move mode. Purging, donating, simplifying, deep cleaning and collecting bubble and boxes. Nothing creative-which irritates me more than anything. But I just take a deep breath. Think of the future. And then move on. My motivation and creative energy will reappear once I’m all settled. The studio will happen this weekend. I cannot wait. 

Fur-bruary 28: Moxi the Shorkie

 So I've finally reached the end of the month of Fur-bruary! The ultimate goal was to  be consistent in daily posts that included my work as a photographer and painter. To view the progress of my art and to commit to every day social media! It’s hard to motivate myself but not impossible. (Wine and coffee helps) What was more of a challenge for me personally was the Doggust (August) month last year where I actually illustrated/painted a different dog everyday. This final image is of a sweet and dear mutt named Moxi who belonged to my sister lucy. She was obsessed with her mama and was always by her side. I dog sat her a few times and her description of fun with me was collecting landscape rocks as a game. That and modeling for pet portraits. I miss her. Final pet portrait painted in oils/gouache and dry ink in procreate on my iPad pro. 

Fur-bruary 27: Doug the Bowie Eyed Borsky

 This is not a typical pro photograph of a pet. It is rather a good example of a typical pet photo “happy snap” taken by your humble dog “photog” for a future pet painting. Things to consider in the photo reference when a potential client would like to commission you to paint their pet such as natural light, sharpness, angle of the picture and background. Backgrounds “should” be clear of any distractions. The angle should be taken from a low at the pets level-preferably. Should never be blurry. And the use of a flash is definitely forbidden. If these rules are mostly followed then a fun and fantastic portrait will be created!

Doug the Bowie eyed Borsky painted with oils in procreate. Handsome dude I must say. 

Fur-bruary 26: Blue Pug

 Blue pug was one of my favorite oil paintings of the dog series of last year. I felt the blue and green tones for a black dog brought some fun and whimsy to his darling personality. The google eyes are irresistible and I’m super happy with the results!