Dave The Cat-Portrait

Close ups

Oil on 7x5 hardboard.
This is my contribution to the WDE at Wet Canvas. Lin was the host and supplied the great reference photo. Thanks, Lin!

This is Dave, Lin's feline friend. The photo showed a royal, haughty, demeanor. Really posing for the camera. That's what I tried to capture in this painting. I first coated the support with black gesso. I really enjoy working with that stuff! Hope you like it!

I love painting cats, but I'm a dog person. What about you?

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Luke 18:27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

Chickadee

Close ups

Acrylic and colored pencil on cardboard...approx. 6x7.
This is for Sheila's moleskin. Her theme was "Paint something you love". Well, that was wide open. I thought and fought to come up with my answer. I kept coming back to God as my main love in this world. But I didn't know what to paint to represent that subject. Then, out of the blue, it came to me. God's creatures!

I took this entertaining acrobatic chickadee's picture as he hang nonchalantly upside down on a seed bell made of sunflower seeds. So beautiful...so well designed to survive through the challenges he will face...and so well provided for by it's Creator.
Examples such as this abound all around us. His existence is confirmed everywhere I look.

NFS

Genesis 1:20: And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”

Burro...Gogh-ing My Way?

The support

This is a 7x5 archival canvas panel.
#1 step...Dribble on white gesso and black gesso. Loosely mix while covering the surface. This results in a textured swirling marble pattern in a gray value.
Apply thinned patches of cad. red lt. and yel. ochre acrylic.
An inspiring support to work on right from the start. Even a drawing on it often looks complete.

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The Painting

Close ups

Oil on a toned 7x5 archival canvas panel.
This is my contribution to the WDE this week. The host, Kay, also issued the challenge to do this week's painting in a Van Gogh style.

Available...Click here to purchase on Etsy.

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Cartoon Extra

Just thought I'd throw this in for the heck of it. By the way...that red at the top of the head and the chin are meant to represent Vincent's hair and beard. Wouldn't want ya to think that's a stub of an ear up there . No animals were harmed in the making of this blog!

Luke 18:27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

Sheep--Experimenting

Step #1

On 5x7 hardboard.
A mixture of black gesso and white gesso were roughly mixed to a middle gray. This was brushed on leaving well defined brush marks.
Using a soft, black, graphite pencil, I drew in the two sheep. The deep brush marks in the gesso clearly show up through the graphite. I like this effect because I feel it adds a harmonizing textural look.
Maybe I should have stopped right here and called it done...but I went on...

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Step #2

In this step, oil paint was applied thinly with a brush and some was also rubbed in with a cloth. This gave it a soft, laid back, appearance.
Maybe I should have stopped here and called it done...but I went on...

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Step #3

Oil on 5x7 hardboard.
Just a few adjustments. Heighten some color...expand the value range.
Stick a fork in it...it's done!!! Of course I could continue to add to it...Thicker strokes! Richer color! Flowers! Weeds! A wolf hiding in the bushes!...NAH! Gimme that there fork!

A Close Up

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Luke 15:4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

A Quiet Place

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Oil on 5x7 archival canvas panel.
This is my submission to the WDE at Wet canvas. The reference photo was graciously supplied by Helen...Thank you Helen!

I went with a photo of patio furniture and then attempted to create an idyllic spot for it to sit in. I tried to imagine sitting in that cool shade while listening to the birds entertaining me.
It was a lot of fun to invent colors and gob on thick paint in spots.
Hope you folks like it.

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Luke 12:34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Sheep- If At First You Don't Succeed

First Version-Friday

Oil on 7x5 hardboard.
On Friday afternoon I was ready to post this on the WDE at Wet Canvas. But I was running late, so decided to post it today (Sat).

But all evening long on Friday, I was nagged by the feeling that the painting had fallen short of what I had originally intended.
So this morning, throwing caution to the winds, I attacked it by adding a lot of stronger colors.
I like it better now. Glad I had to wait til today to post it.

Second Version-Saturday
Close up

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^{Luke 11: 2} And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.³Give us day by day our daily bread.⁴And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Hooter

Close ups

Oil on 5x7 hardboard.
This is for the WDE at Wet Canvas. The reference photo was supplied by Jean.

Happy New Year, friends! I hope this will be a good one for you. I'm sure the upcoming year will require many, many, wise decisions-both on our part and the government's ...thus the owl.

About this painting...first the panel was coated with a mixture of white and black gesso to make a dark value gray. I made sure to leave plenty of brush stokes, which later will enrich the painting.
Then thinned acrylic pthalo blue and alizarin crimson were applied. Some will peek through in the finished piece. I feel this harmonizes and energizes the painting.
Most all the paint strokes are put on thinly. Some strokes are lightly dragged across the textured primer. This allows the paint to be picked up by the ridges in the gesso...giving a delicate texture to the feathers.
Around the focal point of the eyes, I applied the paint thickly, usually in a single stroke to maintain the feel.
At the moment I'm happy with it. Hope ya'll enjoy it!

Available...Click here to purchase on Etsy.

My Etsy

Luke 6:21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.