Max is done

okay - here is Max in all his glory
I know I posted a progress yesterday .... so where did it disappear too?
Shawn saw it too!!
oh well

one more puppy

This is Max - I'm having trouble choosing the pose so I have turned it over to the client to pick.
He is really very cute.

one more for xmas ....

This last kitty is my xmas present to my sister in law, Ruth. His name is "Sam I Am".
He is not quite finished - the background is wet and once it dries I need to clean up some
edges, but he went much quicker and easier then the previous black and white girl.

Oooh! our first winter storm!

So the weather outside is dreary ........ this is what we woke up to today. All the buses are canceled including city buses and most of the highways in and out of town are closed too.
Last weekend the storm hit London and now it was our turn. Fortunately for us, London was much worse.
The first 2 photos are out thru the bedroom window and the last ones are thru the front door - the snowman is Pat - my dh.
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the cats are smarter then we are - they know what to do in this weather ......

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A tribute to Rosie

Rosie is finished! She was more difficult than I expected - the pose probably - the foreshortened body gave me conniptions and since I really couldn't see her back end, I had to fake it. The client is happy so that's means she is done!

6 x 11 watercolour

black & white

I have 2 black & white tuxedo cats to do next. The first one is Rosie and I'm having a really tough time with her. She is gone and this is a present for her dad, but the only photo I have shortens her body and doesn't give a clear view of her paws. The client also would like her to look a bit plumper then in the photo - it was from her last days and she is pretty thin.



I think I may have to start her over - this is were I'm at. I have resorted to white gouache to try to corret the paws. Now her cheeks are lopsided ... and I'm trying to have her vanish into the background somewhat .....

water baby nearing done too!

This one is almost done now - I'm waiting for the background to dry so I can evaluate the water drips from the ball - I think I will need to touch those up still but I will wait and see.

1 more done, 2 to go

Just as I finished Angel, I got a call regarding another commission - so I keep on keeping on......
This one needs minor adjustments on her back - so that her fur is the same colour - got orangey on me and I didn't notice until I had it up on my monitor - funny how that works. The I'll need to tackle the background - haven't decided if I'm going to do water as in the photo or something more ambiguous.




I'm satisfied with Angel and just need to get her framed. The client saw her before the background went in and was pleased! Yipee for me!

Next on the easel ....

I have done quite a bit on these two so far.
This golden girl caused me a bit of headache - I inadvertently shortened her torso - the leg is too high! I need to make sure it looks plausible and then I can finish her head. She is standing in water - her favorite place - that will be the last challenge on this portrait.



Angel has different challenges for me; all that curly hair!! Not only that but she is a gray blue dog ....... hmmmmm. After I took a look at this photo on my screen, I realized that I've shortened her nose - sigh ......
I'm trying to decide how much more info I'm going to add - the collar will be there, then I will have to decide on background. I've sent an SOS to My buddies Lauren & Patty to ask for suggestions.



Fortunately, I'm ahead of schedule so I can relax, although I had a call from another potential client this afternoon.

Two down, 3 to go

Bandit is finished - chose the yellow again because his eyes are yellow. Mom of Bandit is very pleased!




Fergus also has a happy mom who will be picking this up tomorrow afternoon!
I don't know how visible the last few corrections are, but I posted her again - feels more finished once I've done this.

progress steps

Here is the sketch of Angel - I've enhanced the pencil so you can see it - I will have to soften her eye so she looks shy not grumpy.
She will be 10 x 14 finished and I will take care of the matting & framing for the client. It has a home on a wall with 2 other paintings so we are matching frame size & style.




The first wash of colour is on Bandit. I'm using Payne's gray at this point to keep the changes of value even in hue. Once I have established a bit more of the form, I intend to wash a brownish gray over her - probably a mix of burnt sienna & ultramarine. I'll decide what to do about those extra drips later - maybe I'll add some rather than remove these.




I washed in a yellow background to pop Fergus - although I don't think she needs much popping! The miskit has been removed and I'm decideing my next steps. I will soften some of the edges of the white bits and maybe remove some pigment in places to create a wider range of tones in her wiskers.

thank goodness - NOT black

Yippee, the new commission is a gray Portuguese water dog named Angel.
Here is her photo - I'll post progress when I get to her.

getting into miskit!

Today was the day to get started on the first 2 commissions I had - I sat the show in the Gallery in the Grove
from 11am to 2pm and since it was very quiet (2 guests) I had time to paint. I got a fair bit done on Fergus and I think I will set her aside to work a bit on Bandit next - her eyes are not the same size right now! Tomorrow I am taking photos of another black dog - yet another xmas present.

Fergus" or Fergie 8 x 10


Bandit - 8 x 11


Since both animals have a lot of black and Fergus has all those white whiskers, I decided to mask out a lot of them using miskit - I don't usually like working this way because when the miskit is removed, the white is quite harsh so I will need to be very patient at the finish.

nothing done!

I got up at 8:30 (that's early for me these days) intending to do all kinds of stuff - have 3 commissions to do and I thought I'd check out a few things first ..... I updated this site - a little cosmetic repair - then I wandered over to Lauren's blog; from there to her facebook page and found this: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/11/dogs-dont-understand-basic-concepts.html which then led to http://www.stumbleupon.com/home/ which somehow led to several hours of further stumbling!
Anyway - now I'm into mid afternoon, so I guess I better start - I have one sketched and 2 to go.

Bandit - sketch done


Fergus - next



Mastiff - waiting for a better photo from client

more small ones

I created several more 5 x 7 and matted them to fit an 11 x 14 standard frame. They make great gift items at a reasonable price.The mat is white with a black edge along the cut and the whole thing is in a poly bag. I priced these at $45 to make them and if you are interested, contact me at suegalos@yahoo.com.


"Dance #1"


"Circle Dance"


"The beginning of so many things"


"Dance #2"


"Sails Away" (shown in mat and poly bag)

small jems

On the advice of my buddy Lauren, I worked up a collection of small pieces (5 x 7) to has some different price points for my next show. These also work well as warm ups - although I end up putting in a fair bit of time into them. This first batch was done in the style I learned from Bob Burrifge: heavy viscosity paints and negative painting.

Girl's week out!

Patty Henderson and I drove up to Honor Mi to visit our buddy, Lauren Everett-Finn at the end of September. We spent a week painting, eating & drinking .....and, needless to say - a good time was had by all.
We visited many local sites to do plein aire paintings & sketches. Below are the ones I did.

These are all done in my moleskin watercolour sketch pad.