What I did on my "Summer Vacation"

So, "vacation" might not be the right word for when you've been too sick to work much, but let's just gloss over that for the time being (except to say, if you're old enough for the shingles vaccine, go get it!!)  (NOW!)  (If you want to be seriously grossed out by my shingles story, click here.)

I actually have several graphics I've gotten wrapped up and haven't told you about along the way, and have a portrait of one of my favorite dogs EVER on my table at the moment.  Sadly, it's a memorial portrait, which I still cannot believe.  *sigh*  Truman was one of the few of my portrait clients that I've actually had the honor and joy to know in person.

Let's start with the graphics and illustrations, shall we?  

After completing two logos for Brian Southwick (the his real estate logo here, and this real estate development logo here), Brian's wife got in touch with me to work up a logo for her. Also a real estate agent - broker, actually - she wanted something to reflect her own interests in gardening as well as to give a sense of the sophisticated homes she sells, with colors that would work with the identity colors of the company she works for. We kept this very clean and the symbology clear.

Kiens Logo
©Xan Blackburn 2014

SilkenFest 2014 (primary logo)
©Xan Blackburn 2014

I have had a lot of fun working with Iola and Penny on this next one.  An earlier project they were involved with resulted in some graphics that ended up on the cutting room floor, but which had a lot of support.  We recycled part of that un-used imagery to create a logo for the 2014 SilkenFest; the big annual event for fanciers of the Silken Windhound.  This one has three versions, so far, which can be used in various settings, including a backdrop for photographs of the winners of the various events.

SilkenFest 2014 (variant)
©Xan Blackburn 2014

Awhile back, we took a jaunt down to California and stopped in at a tiny dog show in the Sierra foothills.  I met a woman who was showing her Lagotto Romagnolos, a breed I'd never run across before.  We got to talking, I gave her my card, and we've worked on three projects so far. The first was a logo for the Lagotto Club of America,  which I talked about here.  These two are for the Lagotto club specialty; one for the specialty logo, and the other for a custom wine label.  I really enjoyed building up a watercolory effect with these two.  I tried doing actual watercolors for the wine label, but the learning curve was too steep to get the effects I wanted with the editability we need for logos, so back to Photoshop we went!

Lagotto Specialty Logo
©Xan Blackburn 2014

Larcan Lagotto Wine label
©Xan Blackburn 2014

Starfyre Silken Windhound Kennel Logo
©Xan Blackburn 2014

This one was fun!  (I have such nice clients!!)  Working from a photo of one of my client's gorgeous hounds, we played with the wonderful silky fur, and the kennel name (Starfyre), for this treatment.  They thought they might even want a black line version as a tattoo (now that's a lot of like!), so we also have this version.

Starfyre Logo/tattoo design
©Xan Blackburn 2014

Illustration for water field guide
©Xan Blackburn 2014

Work continues on my husband's field guide for water use.  I mentioned the cover design here.  It's been enjoyable doing this pen and ink-style drawing.  I'm doing the drawings digitally, but they still feel very old-school to me.

Illustration for water field guide
©Xan Blackburn 2014

Now, on to Truman's Portrait

Truman - work in progress
©Xan Blackburn 2014

Truman was a big, beautiful greyhound, a blue brindle, which is a coloring that never fails to just make my heart go pitter-pat.  Besides being a knock out physically, he was a knock out personality, too.  Huge.  This portrait captures an especially quiet moment, I expect after so much throwing himself around that he was exhausted.  Lying in the grass in the cool shade of summery trees, I want to focus in on his pale amber eyes, that resting-but-ready attentiveness, and of course the classically long greyhound schnozzle.  

On the left you can see the beginnings of the under painting.  I've transferred my drawing to the canvas, and have basically nailed down the main elements using my old pal, Payne's gray.  The next steps show the building up of the underpainting, establishing the darker tones, building up what will be almost a full grey-tone painting, to which I will then add the colors.  

Truman - work in progress
©Xan Blackburn 2014

Note that the pupils are a little out of control, and that I have reclaimed them in the next phase below.  His spare brindling is also becoming more noticeable, as well as the overall light/dark focus.  His face will have the most light, the most contrast, while his body will recede into the shadow a bit, and the background will hold atmospheric light to allow us to feel the sunny day surrounding this quiet moment.

Truman - work in progress
©Xan Blackburn 2014

So, that's where I'm at as of today.  Always plenty to do, right?

The idea got tossed out that I might do a graphic novel/comic book using sighthounds ...

(and other breeds, probably) as the characters, maybe some super-hero action, maybe serialized, maybe digital and/or print-on-demand ....  Anyone have any thoughts on that?  Would you actually buy something like that?  What kind of story-line would be more compelling, to you?  I'd love to hear from you!  Drop me a comment!

NWFest: outdoor fun with dogs

NWFest was a kick.

My booth, all set up at NWFest 2011

We managed to find a great young lady to petsit who I'm not going to tell you any more about in case you all swarm her with requests, and I can never get her again!  Suffice it to say, everyone loved her, and all was well.  The main point here is that I got H to come with me!  YEAY!  Everything goes better with the HusbandMan.

We packed up the car with all the display stuff, piled on top of an air mattress and bedding, and off we went.  We got down to Karen and Paul's lovely home around 6-ish Saturday evening, greeted by friendly people, and whirling flocks of silken windhounds, adults and youngsters, all enjoying the warm evening and warm hospitality.  We pretty quickly felt like part of the on-going party, with puppies mugging us for pets, drinks offered, and conversation zipping comfortably along.  It was so nice to put some faces to people and dogs I'd met online, and to see my pal Linda again.

We figured we'd better settle on our spot to set up the display, and get the car/our bedroom parked in a relatively flat area out of the way, before it got dark.  We chose a spot that was nestled into the shade of trees, flanked by some lovely shrubs, unloaded the stuff off our bed, and eventually inflated it and crawled in on top.  Which was amusing.  But relatively comfortable, if a bit slantier than we had thought.  Which was also amusing.

And they're OFF!

The next day dawned sunny and warm, and just got more of both.  We got the booth set up, and wandered around trying to pitch in here and there, watching them get the lure set up for straight races to be held in the afternoon, and testing some youngsters on it.  A young girl, Grace, was there with her mom and ~5 month old puppy, and we hit it off.  We had fun sharing art stuff, and just generally goofing off.  In the afternoon, people started showing up after the NAKC shows wrapped up at a nearby park.  It was an afternoon of straight-racing, all silken windhounds, and I even got to help out at the starting line for a bit.  I never did figure out how the points and standings and winners worked!  Very arcane stuff!  H and I both did enjoy watching the dogs have a blast chasing the lure, or each other.  Or neither.  H got a bunch of pictures, but I can't get them off his phone to where I can get them!  *grrr*

I got some great feedback, and nice chats with lots of people coming over to look at my art, many of whom had watched the development of the recent 3 paintings here on the blog.  The painting of Hunter got a lot of attention, but was already sold.  Bados' owner, J, decided to take his portrait home, too.  (Bados was there, and in fine form, winning all sorts of things, and looking fabulous!)  The little drawing of Silkie that I completed right before we left was also sold before the event, but also got some nice attention.  I had a guest book for people to sign and give me some notes about things they'd like to see from me, which turned out to be a great idea.  Very useful!

I sold some cards and prints, but didn't expect to move much of those, since they're all greyhound related, so it was nice to see some go.

When evening fell, there was an enormous feed, an open bar, and all the flowing dogs and conversation to make the time race towards our bouncy airbed.

We slowly woke to the sound of rain on the roof around 3am, which at first seemed just cozy and pleasant ... until the lightning started to register, and the fact that my artwork was not exactly rain-proofed started to sink in!  We jumped (okay, disentangled ourselves) from the car, and ran up to sort things out more securely, while lightning lashed the sky, and soft rain fell.  Once we got our damp selves back under the blankets, we were treated to more light-show, and some quite respectable thunder 'til we finally fell back to sleep.  Only to be awakened a little after 6 by a huge explosion of thunder, like another whole car had been dropped on top of ours, followed by a dump truck load of bowling balls.

What remained after the rain

We eventually gave up sleeping, and assembled ourselves for the day.  We had found a big natural foods market nearby, sharing a shopping center with a Peet's Coffee, so we started there.  After fortification, we returned to what was meant to be a full day of all-breed lure coursing.  And hopefully selling some artwork.  Well, one out of two ain't bad!  I don't think I sold anything on Monday, but I did make some nice contacts, including a serious interest from the NAKC judge.  Maybe more on that in coming posts.  I felt I needed to take my more vulnerable work down because of the damp weather, so my booth got a lot more ... efficient looking towards the end.

The weather was cooler after the rain, but cleared up nice and warm in the afternoon.  New people and dogs started to show up to join the fun.  Several strikingly fit whippets, two stately borzoi, and a group of solid and serious-looking Rhodesian Ridgebacks took turns in the various smaller paddocks to stretch their legs and await their turns.  The lure machine simply wasn't cooperating, so there was a lot of waiting, and a lot of work by Paul and crew to try to sort it out.  Meanwhile, everyone (except Paul and crew!) just relaxed and shmoozed.    I didn't take nearly enough pictures, and none of the lure coursing itself, but that's no loss: they would have just turned out as little colored blots just dashing behind a tree or something.  It was fun to watch, though!  H enjoyed it so much, he's talking about setting up a lure course here for our lot.  At least a straightaway.

All good things must come to an end, and so it was with NWFest.  H reminded me we had a pet sitter and pets to get back to.  Suddenly in a big rush,  we broke down the booth (what was left of it), mashed it all in the car, said our good-byes, and were down the road in record time.

The day after we got home, I learned about another event almost around the corner from us, which I promptly decided to vend at.  From my Events page:
SnipFest: Music Festival to benefit WeSnip: Saturday, August 6 · 10:00am - 10:00pm These good people provide low-cost and even free spay and neuter services, and help to capture, neuter and release feral cats.  This great benefit event will be a fun day of music and vendors, food, a beer garden, and a police dog demo.  I'll be there!


I'm hoping to be able to finish two commissions I have in progress now, just to fluff up my display, before sending them off to their owners.  I'll let you know how that goes over the next few days!

Silken Windhound Portrait, Hunter, is ... Done! (Probably)

Tangaloor Malden, CGC "Hunter"
11" x 14" acrylic and graphite on Gessobord
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

A lot of careful work went into refining the silky hairs swirling around the ear and down the neck, bringing them in and out of shadows, giving them dimension, giving them some color, making them finer. Much more shadow was needed along the back of the face, and in the mouth.  I couldn't achieve a deep enough dark for the contrast I wanted in the mouth, so I used mixes of Payne's Gray, some red, some raw umber, a little Naples yellow in some areas, to give it the depth it needed.  The nose and eye also got some of this treatment.  I want the focus on the face, with some other interest to set it off, but the exciting busy-ness of the ear had begun to take over the show.  These deep shadows brought the balance back.

While working on the mouth, I realized I'd gotten a bit off on the lower lip area, between the canine and the big molars.  It was not thick enough.  Bringing that dark back down where it belonged and marrying it with the areas previously brought almost to a finished state took up some time, but it was worth the effort to get right.

Tangaloor Malden, CGC "Hunter" (detail)
11" x 14" acrylic and graphite on Gessobord
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Getting the hot and cool reds in the mouth is always interesting.  The light may bounce off a wet tongue, leaving a cool highlight, or shine into or through the tongue or edge of gumline, leaving a much warmer color.  You can see an almost flame-hot red at the edge of the lower incisors, and an almost blue highlight along the surface of the tongue, curving round to some warmer reds along the near edge, cooling yet again along the gum below the molars.  It's not easy to see in this .jpg, I'm afraid.

I loved the silky way his fur is streaked with soft gold and pencil-gray.  In greyhounds, we call that blue fawn brindle.  I'm not sure what that coloring is called for silkens.  Anyone?  Another difference between greyhounds and silkens is their noses.  Greyhounds nose leather projects beyond the muzzle a bit, almost like a black clown nose stuck on there for laughs!  But, I'd gotten used to it.  I had to really look and SEE that silkens' nose leather is more compact, more integrated with the muzzle.  That SEEing thing can be so tricky.  We assume we know how something looks, and miss the reality, which can throw everything off.  Impressionism is all well and good, but the essential points have to click.  For me, that is!

By around 5pm, I felt pretty well finished with Hunter himself, and took stock of the painting as a whole, and how, or if, I might shift its atmosphere.  I wasn't sure it needed it anymore, now that Hunter's features were better defined, and his personality was able to assert itself.  But, I had a pre-conceived notion, you know!

After a traumatic evening, where I tried to take this painting away from the direction it has insisted on from the start, and then had to pull it back from the brink of disaster, I think I'm going to keep my hands off it from now on.

I had forgotten my original intent to smudge it up, layer glazes on it, sand through them, and basically give it an aged feel, a sort of lost in time effect.  When I tried laying on some translucent glaze, using matte medium and raw sienna (a rich reddish brown), I was already nervous about wrecking it, and over-worked the glaze, resulting in a sticky, funky mess.  Much grungier than I had intended!  In a near panic, I took a sponge and carefully rubbed off what I could, leaving it just less grungy, but still in an uncontrolled, funky way.  I decided I better stop for the evening.  I retreated a bit depressed, drained.  But not utterly defeated somehow, though I didn't know what I'd do to fix my mess.

I couldn't resist going and looking at it again later, of course.  I remembered I had intended to sand this painting, so I grabbed some fine sandpaper, and started working on the areas I'd goofed up.  That helped, but then I went right through the turquoise and brown gesso underpainting in some speckles, so I stopped and left again.  When I came back after dinner (a snack, really, as I was too preoccupied to actually cook), I pulled out the gesso I'd mixed and kept separate all this time.  It was still wet, so I re-worked the areas I'd sanded, feathering them into the original background the best I could, and left yet again to let it dry.  When I looked one last time before bed, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief: it was back to where it had been before the grunge attack!  My eyes were aching.  I slept like a log ('til about 4:30, but that's another story!)  And here we are today.

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment to get these three paintings scanned professionally, in case I want to make reproductions in the future.  That gives me one working day (well, half a day now) to maybe do a drawing or something small, perhaps, if I want to get that in on the scanning, too.  I'll need everything to be dry, framed and packed for the trip by Friday, a week and a half off.  Plenty to do in the mean time, but I might try to get in a few drawings still.  We'll see!

Let me know what you think of Hunter's portrait, and the others!

Hunter
©Xan Blackburn

Delaney
©Xan Blackburn

Bados
©Xan Blackburn

Hunter gets a name! Silken Windhound #3 portrait update

Work in Progress, "Hunter"
silken windhound
Graphite, acrylic, on gessobord, 11"x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

HUNTER!  Yes, his name is Hunter.  Christina of New York's Hunter.  The cats are yelling at me for their dinner, so I'll be brief.  Here's where we are today, with a fair amount to go.  As you can see, I spent a lot of time in the ear fringe and mane.  I'm mainly happy with this, but I see some saccharine sweetness that may have to be expunged in some way.  Motel art is not my goal, here!  A dog, and a dog with a name like Hunter, and an athlete like a sighthound, should not just be pretty.  My husband said I was expressing the "My Little Pony-ness" of the breed, but that's not what I want, here!

Okay, anyway, the cats are still yelling.  I gotta go.  Enjoy!

Silken portrait #3, Stage 2

Man, I really hope someone guesses who this is, soon!  My titles are going to start looking like a math lesson!

Work in Progress
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Today started with some corrections, and some timidity.  I got a used Galaxy Tab recently (I might have to give that thing its own post at some point), which has a better camera in it than my phone, which made it convenient enough to choose it over taking multiple stage scans at every little stage.  It also has a nice little display (7") which I can zoom in on, etc., which makes it a great reference tool.  Usually, I print out my reference photo, and have that on my work table while I paint.  But, my printer isn't the greatest, and, looking at the Tab's version next to the printer's version showed me a LOT that I had missed or misinterpreted.  All that might have been okay, for the purposes of this portrait, but once I had the better picture, I had to work from that!

I had gotten a sort of uniform darkness in the mouth that wasn't right.  I had tried to correct it yesterday, but wasn't happy with that, either.  The graphite just would NOT come off the board in the usual way (kneaded eraser, Blu Tack) or the unusual ways (sanding, cursing).  I had dabbed some of the background paint I had kept, but that needed to be smoothed and re-integrated into the whole.  This morning, I decided to return to the Blu Tack.  That's great stuff for pencil work!  As it's actually adhesive, without forming any residue, it picks up the graphite dust rather than spreading it around or rubbing it off.  I made my little wad about the right size, and rolled it repeatedly over the mouth area, re-kneading and re-wadding as necessary to keep a clean surface.  It eventually picked up enough so that I could work back in the shading I wanted.  Yeay!

Now to conquer my timidity!  It's looking so cool the way it is that I was afraid to mess it up, and intimidated by how much work there is still to go to reach my original idea.  I started pecking away with my pencils, taking frequent breaks to compare hardness on various other surfaces, sharpen them, step back and squint, check my reference again ....  I realized I wasn't going to get anywhere like that, so I decided to try using a stump (a blending tool made from soft paper, rolled tightly and with a conical tip on each end) to very softly smudge in some areas of shadow, get me over the hump of treading on all that freshly fallen snow before me.  That helped.  Then I decided I needed a broader stroke, to block in large areas where shadows were deepest.

Using the matte medium I bought yesterday, to keep (hopefully!) enough texture to the surface that I can still draw on it, I diluted a mix of payne's grey and burnt umber, leaning towards the warm umber, to wash in some shadows along the back of the face, under the chin, and behind the ear fringe.  Very light washes, since I'm still feeling timid, and I don't want to commit to too much, nor take away from the pencil work I'm still intending to do there.  All that is in the first picture above.

Work in Progress
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

That brings us to this picture.  Next, I decided to wash in some of the subtle tawny color this dog has.  (Now any guesses who this is?)

Work in Progress
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Another look at my reference and I realize I've foggily edited out the back of the ear, where it lays against the neck (it's completely shadowed out in my printed reference!)  Trying to decide whether to work it in, or leave it all softly shadowy and vague back there, I look closely at the reference photo, and see all these lovely internal shadows and highlights within that area, including the edge of the ear.  I decide to do it.













I guess I took this photo when the paint was still damp enough to glare.  That's a bummer.  Well, at least you can see the back of the ear, and how I've worked in some of that tawny red tone around and into the eye as well.  I also used that color, mixed with white, to add some warm color to the teeth, and warmed up some of the highlights elsewhere as well.  Now the molars are too light, but that's easy to remedy.

Okay!  Between lunch, making this post, taking the dogs out one at a time *sigh* and answering the intervening emails, it's now quarter to three!  Back to painting!

Silken Windhound #3

And now for something completely different!

Well, it's still a silken windhound, but I'm working on this one really differently.  I figured I'd better write this down before I forgot what I did, and what my original thought is, so here goes.

I wanted to combine a graphite drawing with acrylic.  My original concept is a little vague, since I've never done this before, but it involves layers of paint, pencil, sanding, glaze, more sanding, more paint, more pencil, more of all the above ....  Sort of the lasagna approach, if you will.  I did a couple little sample bits, just to work out the way that might end up looking (which I will not show you!), and then decided to jump right in.

I chose my subject as a head-only portrait.  (Any guesses who this is?)  Working on an 11 x 14 gessoed panel, I started with some acrylic gesso, mixed with blues, burnt umber, and Naples Yellow, keeping the blues where the dog would go, more or less, and the warmer tones around it, loose and vague.  I'm not at all sure how much of that will show in the end, but that's the first layer.  I chose to use the gesso because I want the surface to still have some more tooth than straight acrylics; more like a chalkboard than the side of a water bottle.

I transferred the drawing, using white transfer paper (like carbon paper, but leaves white marks), and keeping it pretty simple.  I didn't want the transfer to interfere with my pencil later, just give me some key locations to work from.  In this first pic, you can sort of see the drawing in places, and the glowy eye is actually where I started working in some pencil, which made a glare.  Sorry!

Work in Progress
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

I got the eye established a bit before I realized I might really want to get in those white areas first.  

Maybe.  I don't know.

I'm really flying by the seat of my pants, here!  Just in case, I started working on the highlights.  I'm already liking the feel of this, and I hope I have the courage to do the experimental stuff to it when the time comes!

Work in Progress
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Here you can see I've got the whites fairly well placed, but only in a ghosty sort of way.  I wanted to work in the pencil some more, starting in the face.

Work in Progress
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Sorry about the shadows running down the side there.  That's my hand rest thingy, to keep me from sludging my hand or sleeve through my work.  I made it myself!






















Anyhow, this is still pretty subtle, but it's got a very ethereal feel to it that I like.  Let's take a closer look at the face.

Work in Progress, detail
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

That's better.

I had several days away from my artwork, what with the holiday, a family visit, and a sudden panic that I wouldn't have the stuff I need for the event (frames, mat board, a way to display my prints, a way to take credit cards in case my fancy new [used] device doesn't work ...), so it's good to be back to it!  I think my original idea of how much stuff I'd be bringing was ambitious, but I'm getting to be okay with what I will have, so there you go.

Any guesses who this elegant hound might be, from what you can see so far?

Mystery Silken gets a name, and ...

First: Happy Canada Day, to my Canadian readers!  Being so close to the Canadian border for the last several years has been very educational.  I love listening to the CBC while I work, and today's radio has been full of their nation's anniversary, and the first royal visit of Will and Kate.  Right now is a repeat of a show from this date in 1957, including an interview with a man who was then 80 years old.  Cool.

Allegante Delaney
11" x 14" Acrylic on panel
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

But, back to this painting.  Let's give this girl her name, finally!  This is Allegante Delaney, who has moved to Canada, and was recently made the grandmother of a pretty litter born in California.

I lost a day's work yesterday while enjoying a visit with H's cousins (okay, mostly to housecleaning in anticipation of their arrival.)  When I came back into my studio this morning, it was to see that the elves had been working on my painting.  Or at least it seemed more finished than I thought two days ago.  Yeay!

Looking back at the last stage I showed you, everything is pretty much settled.  What remained was detail, and a bit of balancing working all through the painting, making sure the perspective was clear, and that the focus stays on Delaney herself.

I spent a lot of time with the smaller brushes, as I always do at this stage, working back and forth between shadows and highlights to pull out details of the fur.  I darkened the whole eye area on the shadow side.  I also continued to balance the light reflecting warmly up from the grass and the rather narrow cooler band of shadow coming down from the top edge.  Towards the very end, I washed up some of that yellow-gold into the underside of her face, up her sides, up her back legs.  It surprised me how much I had to add into her front legs and chest area, but I really liked how it brought a sense of atmosphere into those areas.  You can feel the heat coming up from the grass, now.  Every painting is a learning experience for me!  I love that.

Allegante Delaney, detail
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

A bit of red into the tongue, and a touch into each eye, brought a beating heart into her face.  I still had this red on the brush, and dabbed some into the edge of her ear and into her off back leg, to give a sense of the sun glowing through her.  Wild with abandon, I then dabbed some into the dark foliage behind her, to complicate the color there, more true to nature.

The grass got glaze after glaze, blades and blades, too distinct, too fuzzy, too white, too green, too yellow ... until I think I can stop.

Which brings us to the sleep-on-it stage!

Again from the CBC:  One young woman who got to meet Prince William today said "he smelled so marvelous!" Love it!

Mystery Silken in progress

Work in progress
silken windhound
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

I'm bummed!  I thought I'd taken a scan of the painting on Friday, but I guess not.  Well, you'll just have to look at it as it is now!

The underpainting was pretty much set in Payne's gray by Friday, so today I started in on the color in the dog proper (occasionally zipping outside to adjust the background to suit the developing dog.  There will still be work to do in the background: it will need to be lightened up, particularly towards the edge of the grass along the dark foliage, and in a vertical band below the center of the dog.  It seems to have gotten a little muddy in there.  Some individual blades of grass might have to be added zipping off in odd directions to break up the uniformity, and some will be stroked in in front of the dog's feet once I'm happy with them, as well.  The dark foliage is still a little monochromatic, so I'll probably throw in some umber or reddish browns.

But let's talk dog.  At this size, you could almost think this painting is done, but there's much to do, yet.  The underpainting gave me a good foundation, all the shady areas or dark markings established, and the pale yellow giving it all a sun-soaked warmth.  Today's work went into beginning to develop the texture of the fur, mostly.  The longer, more flowing areas on the throat, fringing the front legs, in the tuck and along the backs of the thighs needed to be defined with glowing warm whites, shading into the cooler areas, but also allowing the ruddier tones in the fur to come in.  I'm liking how that's working, so far, with more to go.  There is an area along the lower rear ribs that got too ruddy, but I think building up the tawnier tones on top of that will look great in the end.  The reflected light coming up into the inner thighs and chest region are really a rewarding challenge.  I wasn't quite sure how to handle them, consciously, so I just sort of let my eye and hand work together without consulting my brain so much.

The fringes that interact with the background are a give and take of positive and negative space, working both from the fur out, and then back in with the background to define the hairs where I want them to be clear.  Clear vs. fuzzy is also a consideration.  I don't necessarily want the same level of focus throughout the dog, as that becomes distracting, as your eye darts all around taking in detail, rather than seeing the effect of the whole.  It's just how our brains work.  It's hard to remember when my own eyes and brain are 4" from the painting, seeing it in individual hairs, rather than as a dog, much less a dog running through a field, but that's why we have back pain: to make us stretch and stand back for perspective now and then!

So, this should give you plenty of visual cues to guess who this dog is, if you happen to know him or her.  Anyone want to hazard a new round of guesses?

Back to Bados, and Beyond!

Bados, the BadAss Puppy
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Let's take another look at Bados.

I've re-done the background pretty much entirely, removing the hills and sky, which seemed distracting, a separate thing going on in Bados' painting.  I've been sitting with this state for a couple days, and I'm now sure I'm done with it.  I'll be giving it a final coat of clear glaze to give it a consistent level of shine across the whole thing, so there's no bothersome shiny patches.

I pronounce Bados complete!

So, on to the mystery dog, still un-guessed (well, ONE person guessed, but it's still a secret!)

Work in Progress
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

I spent quite a lot of time working on the background, making a suitably blurry wall of dark foliage behind the dog (I'll be happy when I can give him/her a name!  Keep guessing!!), and a bright sun-lit summer field of wild grass sloping towards us.  The dog is still only a pale silhouette.  I've washed some of the sunny yellow up into the underside, to catch the glow reflecting up from the warm ground, but that's about it.  The grass is full of color, with layers and strokes of different yellows, purple, greens, and some white-mixed highlights just starting to go in.  Still a lot of work to get this where I want it.  I meant for it to be more impressionistic than it is, but it's these along-the-way evolutions that keep things lively!

This scan isn't all that great (it's too big for my scanner), but you get the idea.  My pallet is still covered in background colors, with no room for dog colors, so I'm stuck working on the background exclusively for now, since I'm much too thrifty to throw out perfectly good paint.  I'm champin' at the bit, though.

I'm still waiting for that correct guess, people!

Bados was NOT done. He's STILL not done!

I am trying to move on to the next painting (follow along, now!), but Bados, it turns out, is a star.  A star needs to shine alone for full effect.  That is, the hills and sky had to go (see that last stage here).

Now, you might think that's easy.  Just paint green over them and voila, right?  As it happens, not so much.  Acrylics are translucent, so it may take many layers to truly obscure something underneath.  In severe cases, such as when one has already tried to cover something with many layers, and it persists in showing through like a stain, one may have to resort to primer or gesso.  If one is smart, one will at least tint it towards the final color.  But not too much, since adding paint to the primer makes it less opaque.  How do I know this, since I never went to art school?  You might say I've been a trainee in the on-the-job training program for ... a good many years.  So, smart = lots of experience with being the other thing, that opposite of smart.*

Okay, so let's now say that one has tried the many layers, then the tinted primer, and are now on to trying to blend in the primered zone with the rest of the existing painting, most of which one is already happy with.  Another plot twist in this adventure is that acrylics do tend to shift color a bit from wet to dry, so one may think one has blended it nicely when in fact one has not, which becomes evident when it dries.

No worries. You need to do layers to get a feel to match the layers in the other part of the painting anyway, so you start layering.  Oh, do you remember how I mentioned that acrylics can also be a bit testy about overworking an area that's only partly dry?  How it makes these bald areas permanently outlined by dense areas?  Yeah.  One must keep that in mind, as well.  So that one doesn't get impatient in frustration.  As one might.  It will all work out in the end, one must keep telling one's self.  Take your time, one says.  One may reply that there is a deadline to consider, but one must again remind one's self that ruining the piece will not get one any closer to a happy deadline.

Let us leave that painting for a moment, while it dries.  Thoroughly.

Meanwhile, the next painting.  I just took this with my phone camera because it's too wet to scan.

©Xan Blackburn, 2011
Work in progress

Okay, now it has crashed photoshop.  Hang on ... Re-launching.  Re-editing for clarity.  SAVING.  Dum di dum dum ...  Okay, that's good enough for now.

So, this silken running through sunlit grass with a backdrop of dark foliage is on a 12"x16" gessoed panel.  I decided to close in on the subject for this painting, and pretty much fill the frame with the joie de vivre of the moment.  I toned the board first with some warm yellow-tinted primer.  Then transferred my drawing onto the board, washed in a few tentative beginnings of shading in the ear and face with some of the payne's gray left on my pallet from Bado's painting.  As I also had a bunch of greens on the pallet, I dove into those next.  Here you see many layers of greens already layering up, from a warm yellow to heat up the sun-lit grass, to deep Hooker's green in the foliage beyond.  It's all very monotonic at the moment, but there will be purples and even some rusty reds working into the background before we're done.

So, any guesses who this happy hound is?

While you're thinking, I will get back to Bados' background.

*If this were the only criteria for being smart, I should now be a genius!

Bados: done?

I think I've reached the sleep-on-it phase of Bados' portrait.  (Looking again, tilting my head, going back and adding some more greens to the shadow area at his feet ...)
Yeah.
I'm going to eat my leftover pizza (from Pizza Pi in Seattle - oh, people!  YUM!), by which time it should be dry enough to scan so you can see.  Back in a few.

Pizza eating ensues.  Lip-smacking, and crumb-gathering, followed by a last mournful stare at the empty box.

Bados
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Okay, let's take a look.

A few more passes over the meadows and hills, some attention to the sky, some little suggested wild flowers down in the foreground.

Bados himself received a lot of tiny-brush attention: Heightening details with both shadows and highlights, getting all the sketchy brindle patches right, bringing the back-lit fringy bits into focus so he glows like the star he is, and washing here and there with more glazes of burnt umber and white, pinks, even some Payne's gray.

I like it!  What's he looking at?  What's he thinking about?  He is on the verge, that moment between going one way and then another.  Will he go towards what he's watching, or the other way to play "rabbit"?

Bados, detail
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Here's a closer look at Bados.  Is that close enough?  Let's look just a little bit closer at his face, just for fun.

Bados, face detail
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

What do you think?

























I've made a start on a second painting.  I'll get to that in a new post.  Who will it be?  ;)

Bados coming clearer

Bados; a work in progress
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

My silken windhound friends correctly identified Bados in the hazy earliest stages I showed you in my last post.  I only had a little time to paint yesterday (had to drive to Seattle airport to pick up my hubby after a week-long business trip -- Yeay!), but I'm really liking this painting!!  The glazing medium I'm using is great, but I keep learning things about its limitations.  Like, once you lay down some paint mixed with this medium, you have very little leeway for moving or adjusting it, and woe be unto you if you try thinning it with water, or blending it into a wetter area!  It just lifts in the wettest area, leaving a hard edge with a bald spot.  Not good.  Another limitation is that it's hard to paint on top of with anything other than more glaze, which is not opaque (by definition), nor can you get fine details, since the medium makes the paint more like syrup than paste.  So: get all the fine underpainting details in FIRST!

There is a lot still to do on this painting.  Lot of detail yet to pick out on the puppy, and work still to make the background play nice.  I'm really happy with the sky, which you can't really see much here.  I used a damp sea sponge to work in the clouds into the wet sky-blue paint, and it turned out very well.  Subtle.

The green field fading into the hills at the horizon still need some evening out in their tone, and I have a little finishing touch to add once that's all ready.  The shadow at the pup's feet will need a little more deepening.

Bados - Detail
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

In the puppy, I found just the right tint of burnt umber mixed with white to capture the pinky tones under his legs, and washed over all the shadow areas, it very subtly separates his living warmth from the cool of the green grass.  There are also cooling layers of blue washed into the shadow areas to tone it down, and cool the shadows.  The hot white highlights where the sun is catching the edges of his downy coat is a mix of lemony yellow and white.  His almond-shaped eyes are in better focus (he looked cross-eyed in the first stage, didn't he?), and his brindling is established.  His paws still look a bit like hooves, but that will be resolved in time.

I'm anxious to get to painting!

Capturing Silkens

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm planning on being a vendor at a silken windhound event towards the end of next month.  However, I have nothing silken-related to bring!  So, I've been in panic mode to get stuff together (drawings, paintings, send those to printers for prints and cards, get prints and cards matted and packaged, get display prepared, get some kind of payment situation figured out, line up pet-sitter ...).  That means I spent a few days staring at photos, talking to owners about permissions to use photos, combing the web for printer prices and display oddments, going window shopping for display furnishings, and generally being in a non-productive dither!  Anything but actual art!

Yesterday, I told myself, was to be a day of ART, gawrsh darnit!  Pick ONE photo, study and reinterpret it, then start painting it!

Sometimes that works.  ;)

work in progress, silken windhound puppy
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Luckily, this is one of those times!  I got two paintings up and running.  Well, H says one still looks, "nice and blank", but that's just 'cause he can't see the faint pencil drawing on the toned panel via Skype (he's on a business trip).

Here you can see where I'm at this morning on the first painting.  (This is a patched-together scan that didn't get the whole 11 x 14 panel even in two passes, so there's some photoshop re-creation involved.)  I started with a wash of deep green to give depth to the following layers, fading towards the top to create a misty horizon.  I washed in some pale yellow over all, including the sky, to give it some reflected warmth from the land below.  More yellow in the lower portions. I washed a very watery layer of white into the dog's outlines, which I may regret doing.  I certainly regretted it when I had to paint around it for following layers of green and yellow, with more to come!  Then I glazed on some warm red, just a blush, to warm the dog and set it off from the background.  I followed that with just the beginnings of some payne's gray shading, touching the nose and eyes, and moving around the form a bit.  I already kind of like the washy, ghosty  feel to this ... but I'm going to move it along.

Can anyone of my silken windhound friends guess yet who this is?  Or who's pup it is?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over the weekend, my lovely step-daughter, Sarah Harris, asked me to design her a logo for her new business in Boise, ID; Derma-Luxe.  If anyone needs a skin spa day, look her up!  She wanted something to express sophisticated luxury, not too frilly, but definitely feminine.  Here's what we came up with.  Sarah is joining the family tradition of entrepreneurship after years of training and experience in her field.  Go get 'em, Sarah!

New Project: Silken Windhounds

Lego (Allagante Mai Tai Davan, FCH, OTRC, SRC)

Okay, I really want to hear from you if you are a silken owner, or admirer, or maybe just now found out what they are.  My next push is to get some silken windhound art together for sale at an event in July.  That means a few portrait-style paintings, maybe some prints, a few greeting card designs, and blank books made with this art.

I'll be offering these new pieces on my website as well.  At least the ones that aren't sold after this first event!

During development of a logo for a SWH club this last winter, I developed a real affection for these sweet little sighthounds, with their combination of whippet size, borzoi coat, and overall grace and charm.  I'm looking forward to creating a bunch of art starring these pretty dogs, starting today!

I've asked on the various Yahoo groups focussed on silkens for reference photos to work from, and have gotten a nice lot to get me started.  If you'd like to share with me some photos of your own silken to work from, please send them to my email address: xan (at) xans-art.com.  The deal goes like this: by sending me your photos, you give me permission to use them as reference for my art.  In exchange, I'll give you first shot at buying any originals produced.  I love it when people tell me something about their pets along with sending the photos, to give me a sense of personality.  Nice clear, high-res photos are always best, of course!  :)

I'll show my progress on these pieces here on the blog, so stay tuned!  

Other Irons in the Fire

I thought I'd let you all peek behind the curtain a little more into what else goes on in my studio.  No worries!  I'll be getting back to Nikki's painting as soon as I finish writing this post.

I've been working on a trade show display for my husband.  His water treatment business has been a major client of mine for about 12 years now.  Of course, the pay has always been negotiable, but I'm happy with the return on investment.

Last year, we developed a large (6'h x 4'w), re-usable, adhesive vinyl graphic, which he'll be re-using this year.  It was part of a set of three such graphics which made a very impressive and sophisticated display for his booth.  All together, they looked like this:

total dimensions: 8'w x 4'h

Developing these pushed my aging Mac's resources because of the large file sizes, but they really look great!  He has them on his office walls now.
This year's set up will come together like this:

You can't get a good look at the two smaller graphics on either side at this size, I'm afraid.  Suffice it to say, a fair amount of work went into each element of both of them!  They're being printed on vinyl banner material, with grommets, to fix them to whatever clever support H gets worked out on the pop-up display  wall.  Exact placement isn't set in stone yet.  We are hoping to get some overlap, with some curving of the side panels, and some horizontal popping-out, which will take some engineering ingenuity, which I will defer to my hubby.  I hope to get a good picture of it all set up in the exhibition hall.

I've also been putting some energy into developing some art and products to bring to a Silken Windhound event in July.  Such pretty little dogs!  I've never been to an event with coursing or racing of any kind, or conformation or obedience or any of that, so this should be interesting.  Since these little ones are not competing to win money for their owners (at least directly, although showing well will benefit breeders of those dogs), the attitude seems much more about the fun the dogs have than profit-based racing (of which I strenuously disapprove!)  Although I find breeding any animals for human amusement, consumption or profit to be wrong, the animals produced are innocent, and lovable, as we all know!

 Watch this blog for upcoming requests for 

  silken windhound reference photos,  

  from which I can make some art!!  

Now, as I promised, back to work on Nikki!