A Very Serious Still Life

I received a number of inquiries in the last few days about where I find my inspirations and how I keep going. Besides in all the faces and personalities I get to profile as part of the Painting a Dog a Day project and my daily (strong) dose of coffee, I find them everywhere around me.

• The golden maple leaves dancing right outside my kitchen window.


• My kids' first smile each day (which comes hopefully before their first tear).


• The sound of a dear friend's voice on the phone.


• The way Finnigan's nubbin of a tail glides underneath his skin.


• The purr of my black cat, not just the sound, but the feel of it against my chest.


• The smell of a wet painting.

I'm sure we all have triggers that keep us going - those are just a few. I make sure I am surrounded by handfuls of them, all the time. And for those days when it's tough to get into the studio, I've found a couple of no fail motivators:

• The Nutcracker soundtrack, no matter the season.


• And The Barber of Seville (kill the rabbit..... kill the rabbit....) The right music can almost always get the job done!


• Browsing through Julian Merrow-Smith's website (http://www.shiftinglight.com/) and dreaming of being able to one day paint like him.


• A visit to our local yarn shop, where I can simply sit amongst the rows of colored wools.
  The smell of freshly baked brownies or cookies.


• A brisk walk around the neighborhood, following Finn's nubbin and prance, breathing in the air, listening to the birds/crickets/frogs/silence (when snow is freshly falling)

Here's a bonus painting - one I couldn't help but do. My latest inspiration, you might say.

Yesterday I looked up from the easel and spied a row of puppets carefully lined up by one of my kids, perfectly centered in an unexpected shaft of sunlight. They were brilliantly colored and terribly humorous when visualized as still life objects. It was way more fun than painting pitchers and creamers and ghourds (sorry, Vianna, if you are reading this!!). This guy is the first of a number of lighthearted studies I'll do in the weeks to come - painting something saturated in humor and color was a great diversion!

So I give you "ARGH!! (Puppet #1)," 8" square (larger than life), acrylic on canvasboard, $180. Imagine this guy framed up and hung in a cubicle/office. Or in a child's room. Or even hung overtop a mirror. He will definately brighten up a special corner somewhere. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com .


Thanks, as always, for looking.
And for sharing these paintings with your friends and family,
Be back tomorrow!
Kim

Kimberly Kelly Santini
http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

http://www.paintingadogaday.com/
come. sit. stay.
enjoy the art.

Another Human Portrait

Here is last night's class efforts, "Liesel," a 10" x 20" canvasboard of a young woman.

While the painting itself is not a strict likeness of our model, I am very happy with the results for the following reasons:

I captured a beautiful idea of the light and shadow. I paid careful attention to the light, and it's temperature as it travelled across the shape of the face. The color actually cools as it hits boney planes of the face - I never noticed this before.

I also concentrated on my edge work, working hard to eliminate strong lines and gestural brushwork. If you compare this piece to Jerry's portrait from last week, you'll see that it's far softer and less linear in style.

And I really had fun with her hair. Not strictly black, it had areas of orange and blue to it. And that piece underneath her cheek that reflected her skin tone.

You can purchase this painting (which is only visible here on my studio blog, as it isn't animal or pet portrait related) for $349 plus any applicable Michigan sales tax and shipping costs (estimated to be about $15 for within the US).

All inquiries can come to me at ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com.

I'm getting the hang of this thing, though. And surprised at how much fun it has been, too! Think I might try to rope one of my kids into sitting for me over the upcoming long weekend......

Kim

I've been working hard, behind the scenes here, taking another course with Vianna Szabo (http://www.viannaszabo.com/), refining my painters eye. This latest course, about 1/2 way completed, has involved some intensive still life paintings, graduating into portraiture from a live model.


Here are the paintings I've completed to date. I will not be offering them for sale through my website, simply because they are not animal related. But if you are interested in purchasing one of the class paintings, please drop me a line - ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com .



"White Still Life," 8" square, acrylic on canvasboard, $180. This was the first assignment, a still life setup that was entirely white. The lesson was to paint all the shades of white. I had a difficult time - first off, because I couldn't buy into the inanimate objects, and then secondly, with the lack of contrast. I ended up sitting crosslegged on the floor, looking up at the table, sketching the still life with conte pencil, when I came upon this composition. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com .



"White Pitcher," 16" x 20", acrylic on canvasboard, "$399. Our second assignment included a variety of white items set against darker grounds. I was still trying to find a means of connecting with the inanimate items, when my eye fell in love with the pattern when the setup was viewed from the far corner. I used artistic license, and really played with the colors, working on balancing my values so that the objects read properly, but using color saturations straight from my head.



"November Still Life," 11" x 14", acrylic on canvasboard, $279. This third assignment was a still life setup saturated with intense hues. The trick was to paint not just the light, but the color reflections from each object. I concentrated on the use of edges and modelling the objects with my brushwork.



"Jerry," 11" x 14", acrylic portrait on canvasboard, $279. I am especially pleased with Jerry's sitting. This painting is a sincere likeness, but it also carries other elements of maturity - the color temperatures model the form in many places (instead of value changes), the brushwork caresses the shapes, and I employed a number of different types of edgework and color saturation to help accent my focal point.


Next week we get to paint a woman, supposedly dramatically costumed in complimentary, bold colors. I am confidant I will come home even richer in knowledge, with a few more miles under my brushes.


Stay tuned!

Kim

Yes, I've been remiss in posting here. But if you hop over to my Painting a Dog a Day blog, you'll see how very busy I have been.

The Dog-a-Day project was profiled in July's issue of Best Friends Magazine, to a phenomenal response. That exposure has been a big part of the projects successful effort in raising almost $1100 for animal welfare in the last 5 months.

I've also been continuing my own studies, most noteably taking an intensive course on painting color and light. With each class, I am able to "see" more, and I'm taking those lessons and using them the following day in my work.

I've gotten pieces into a variety of juried exhibitions, and won a number of exciting awards.

And most recently, opened up a group show with some amazing artists at Margot's Gallery.

Now I'm heading into the holiday season, which historically has been my busiest. Typically I make 1/2 my annual sales during the last quarter of the year. I'm a little scared, knowing how busy I have been - I can't imagine getting busier still. But I'm as ready as I can be!!

I am booked solid with holiday dog-a-day commissions, have a waiting list started for larger commissioned portrait work, and am currently accepting reservations for August 2008 dog-a-day portraits.

So, in a nutshell, guess that's why I haven't been posting so regularly!! Will try to work on that, but hopefully you will understand if you don't hear from me terribly often, at least on this blog!!

Thanks!
Kim

An Interesting Week

What a week it's been!

Started out with preparations for a short film about my artwork. Margot van Horne from Margot's Gallery (www.margotsgalleryframe.com) arranged for a cameraman to work with us in creating a short documentary about my painting. I've been drafting various versions of the script and having one sided conversations with myself for the last couple weeks. It will be interesting to see how coherant (or not) I sound in the final edited version.

About mid-week I started receiving feedback from the media with respect to several projects I've been working on. One, the Canine Art Guild's inaugeral online exhibition (opening April 1st - not fools! - at www.canineartguild.com), the other being my Painting a Dog a Day (www.paintingadogaday.com).

And I ended up the week with continued work on several nicely scaled commissioned paintings. The larger than lifesize mastiff portrait is almost completed, and I am still in the early stages of my first chicken painting (4 rhode island reds).

I need to carve out more hours in my day. There's still a good sized pile of paperwork requiring action or a response, and I've got another et unfinished painting headed for an exhibition next week. Like laundry, it never ends.

But that's a good thing.

Thanks for reading!

Kim
www.turtledovedesigns.com
www.paintingadogaday.com

What a whirlwind the holidays were!!

Not only did I have a handful of paintings to finish, then ship out in time for gift giving, but my whole dog a day project began to take on a life of it's own as well. And then of course, there is all the year end paperwork that needs to be done in preparation for Uncle Sam.

But I sit here in the studio tonite, getting all tingley just thinking about what tomorrow will bring.

Namely the schoolbus.

Mind you, it's not that I don't enjoy my kids. I love them to pieces.

But when they are around, I cannot totally shut out the world and get lost in my palette.

So that is what I plan to do tomorrow, all day long.

After walking the dog, of course.

Sweet dreams!

Kim

www.turtledovedesigns.com
www.paintingadogaday.com

Been busy

I've been busy staying on top of everything. This is the time of year when I really focus on studio time, and try to maximize the heck out of every minute spent in here. Having a deadline helps me to complete more commission work.

That said, I'll keep this short!

But consider yourself invited on over to my website to read my Fall 2006 Newsletter.

As always, thanks for your time,


Kim


Kimberly Kelly Santini
www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

Keeping Things Moving Along

Motivation can come in some odd forms.

I started a new practice last week, and formalized it into an actual challenge this week. That of completing a warm-up painting every day before starting on a larger work. (See www.paintingadogaday.blogspot.com )

One would think that the added work involved in completing a painting each day would be detrimental to one's overall production. But it's worked in just the opposite fashion.

The little completed studies actually get my juices going so well that I'm able to jump into a larger canvas and be more productive with a smaller amount of time.

Go figure.

Kim


Kimberly Kelly Santini
www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

The Canine Art Guild - Today's Endeavor

For almost a year now I've been working on establishing a new artists' group just for us dog painters.

It all started as a discussion on the Equine Art Guild forum between a number of artists who regularly painted dogs. We were moaning and groaning about there not really being a place to share ideas or network about all things related to painting canines.

Enough of us stepped forward and started making notes. Those notes became To-Do lists. Those To-Do lists are getting completed. And now we have the CAG, or Canine Art Guild.

Check us out: Canine Art Guild

Our membership is growing. We have a great cross-section of artists and styles.

And if things continue as they have been, our community will continue to grow and amaze.

Today I worked on compiling a canine resources guide that will be published on the Canine Art Guild website (for members' only viewing). This listing will be all encompassing, from art supplies to framing to website development to the history of pet portraiture.

It was one of the last things on my list.

The next one will be recruiting new members (wanna join?) and identifying and establishing strong links to add to the site.

But tomorrow I get to paint.

Kim



Kimberly Kelly Santini
http://www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

Artist Books

I have just returned from another meeting, this one that of the Romeo Guild of Art. Although still a relatively new member, I love these meetings. The business part is typically dealt with in a 1/2 hour, followed by a break for food and mingling (so far there has always been chocolate, which combined with art-speak is a huge win-win). But the real kicker is the tail end of the meeting, which is some sort of presentation about a technique or process.

Tonite's was on art book publishing.

Not those coffee table books with the zillion glossy photos of art.

No, these were original artist made books, one of a kind or small editions (small meaning around 100 copies), handmade, incredibly detailed and gorgeously intricate.

The presenters told their tale, wittingly, of travelling the traditional publishing house road. And then they segued into the remarkable world of handmade books.

Specialty papers, intricate typeface, drawings, various prints, collage, digital media, ephemera. All these things and more linked with some sort of common thread - an idea, an image, a letter.

It got my juices going right there.

What a great way to summarize all the legwork that goes into a portrait - thumbnail sketches, jotted notes, photographic details, color swatches. A perfect thank you gift for an extraordinary client.

What a great way to explore the thoughts behind a pursuit. Like taking the travel sketchbook or diary one step further. A wonderful add-on for clients already owning a piece belonging to a particular series.

What a great way to package the traditional artists' portfolio. It would really set my imagery apart from everyone else's, if not simply at the level of desire. And I am currently reworking my portfolio in preparation for a class I'm teaching on professional and portfolio development next month.

Hmmm...... think I need to get to work!!



Kimberly Kelly Santini
www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

Metamora's Celebration of the Horse

Also known as inspiration.

That's what last weekend's event meant to me.

The village of Metamora invited several different breed representatives to their downtown, and set up small paddocks for the horses. The weather was uncooperative on Saturday, but Sunday dawned bright and crisp, so I grabbed my camera and headed out.

What a treat!! So much eye candy!!

A vanner mare and foal. Two donkeys. A halflinger. A miniature mare and her foal. A fresian. A belgium. A morgan.

These will all grace new paintings in the months to come.

Can't wait to get them started!

But I need to work on some commissioned pet portraits first. Right now I'm working on a triple dog portrait, a fun airedale terrier painting, and am putting the finishing touches on a long haired cat. You can see them on my works in process page.

Once I complete these paintings, I'll pick up and work some more on the "Horse as Landscape" series, and use some of the reference photos I shot last weekend at the Celebration of the Horse.

Stay tuned!

Kimberly Kelly Santini
www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

Packing and Shipping Artwork

I spent a good chunk of yesterday packing up all my pieces for the "Driven" exhibition at Skyline Farms in Yarmouth, Maine. Seems like only yesterday I was collecting images and brainstorming for painting ideas for this show….

It took far more time preparing the works than I had anticipated. This is my first invitational exhibition, so I’ve got a little bit of a learning curve, too.

I labeled, inventoried and tagged each of the paintings. This is a normal procedure for me, but I also wired and prepped them for hanging (which is something I typically leave for the customer to take care of).

I went over their surfaces with a clean tack cloth (it wouldn't do for them to arrive with cat hair!), and wrapped them in brown paper. Then each package was labeled again with my contact information and the paintings’ title.

I grouped them by size, shipping 2 pieces to a crate, with their faces inwards/towards each other. I wrapped each parcel with strapping tape, to avoid any shifting or rubbing that might occur during shipment.

Then I nestled the parcels into airfloat crates. For those of you who don’t know about airfloats, they are boxes made specifically for shipping artwork. The paintings are literally nestled – a bottom layer of egg-foam, a central perforated layer of foam (you remove a portion to snug the painting into the center of it), and an upper layer of egg foam. The box itself is lined and puncture resistant. These crates make for worry-free shipping, honestly.

So, after I got the paintings into their respective boxes, I labeled the inside of each box (gotta make sure that my crates come back to me!) and also included an inventory. Two actually - a master list of all the paintings going to the show, and also a packing list of what was only in that box.

The packing list included photographs of each painting, along with insurance values. This way my paintings will be returned in the same packaging and configuration.

The show opens on Saturday, October 7th, at 5pm. There will be a reception with the artists (sadly, I will not be in attendance) through 8 pm. THe show will hang from Sunday, October 8th through Sunday, October 29th. Their hours are Sat-Sun 1-4pm, and Wed from 6-8pm.

Now I’ve got several other juried exhibitions I’m starting to think about and prep paintings for, but for the most part, will focus the next few months mostly on commission works. Nothing like a pet portrait for the holidays!!

I still have a few more openings for holiday gift giving. If you are thinking about commissioning a pet portrait as a gift, please drop me a line (ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com), and we can discuss your project in greater details.

Kimberly Kelly Santini
www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

Welcome Back!

Well, it would appear as though I fell off the face of the earth. But appearances can be deceiving. Life got so hectic, that I did drop many details, one of which was blogging. Shame on me.

But I’m back now.

What are some of the things that have been happening?

I created a new body of work – some pieces of which I was blogging (note to self: return to those blogs and update with completed images) – for the invitational show at Skyline Carriage Farms Museum this fall. These pieces are a continuation of my studies in limited palette, but also incorporated some experimentation with edges and line. Some of the horse (and mule) paintings are on my website: V is for Vanner, Patience, Follow the Leader, Daybreak, and Listening.

I have embarked upon a new series of paintings. Called “The Horse as Landscape,” these pieces use cropping and unusual angles/points of view to create a - surprise! - landscape. I’ve completed probably 4 or 5 of these, and have a few others in process. There’s been overflow into my canine work too, with a piece starring a yellow lab as beachfront property. You can view this lab painting as she progresses.

I’ve been doing live painting demos at street fairs, art shows, and the state fair.

I’ve been actively exhibiting in southeastern lower Michigan (even got a piece, “Swish,” accepted into The Community House’s 2006 Our Town exhibition).

I’ve committed to teaching painting classes at the Orion Art Center for this fall, along teaching with a new course on artistic growth and portfolio development.

And the Canine Art Guild is in full swing, as well. We are actively recruiting members and compiling data to add to our website.

On top of that, I had a fabulous summer break with my family. We got to visit all sorts of wonderful places, visited with even more wonderful people, and thoroughly enjoyed the perks of having no set routine whatsoever.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

But it's back to school. While the dog spends his days pining for lost kids, I'm busily working on commissions and preparing work for new shows. After all, I need to paint the images of the summer sun while they are still fresh in my mind.

Kimberly Kelly Santini
www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

New Horizons

Back last winter, I painted a flea bitten gray horse, butt to the viewer, cropped in tight, so that the curve of his hindquarters and back created a horizon against a clear sky. Prior to him, I did a lifesize study of the fall of a bay horse’s mane (Daybreak, 20x10, acrylic on gallery stretched canvas), again, creating a landscape. With these two pieces, I had inadvertantly stumbled across an idea I needed to further explore.

This is the next piece in that series, now titled “Horizon” (after the first piece, which carries that name). This painting, titled “Red Hills, Chestnut Horizon," depicts the crest of a thoroughbred’s neck, warmed by the sun, and rolling like the Kentucky hills where I took the reference photo (see the entry “Inspiration Xs 100”).

Painted only with cadmium red deep, cadmium yellow deep, and pthalo blue red, with some titanium white. I’m getting the hang of this restricted palette, warm in sun vs cool in shadow, sort of thing.

Hope you enjoy it.

Now I’m off to do another - the nite's still young!


Kimberly Kelly Santini
www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

Inspiration Xs 100

I had the chance of a lifetime earlier this week to visit a stellar thoroughbred breeding farm in Lexington, Kentucky. The horses were beyond beautiful – they were quite literally muses, dancing in the sunlight. I came home with over 600 photographs, and even more fragments burned into my brain.

As I step through my new reference materials, I am falling in love all over again with all that the equine embodies – grace, spirit, heart, beauty. I will soon be painting these ideas and emotions, set into the framework of the bluegrass and rolling lines of fencerow.

Meanwhile, I’ve gotta figure out how to come down from my adrenaline rush, and get some sleep.

Kimberly Kelly Santini
www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

New Beginnings

Well, I guess I couldn't get enough of my first blog (the one you are reading!), so I opted to start a second!

Actually, once I got to thinking (always a dangerous venture!), I realized that a blog dedicated to the progress of specific animal portraits would be beneficial. I already do something similar in the studio, with a paintings' log/sketch book. While I love the information that book has provided, I've outgrown it's usefulness in the last 6 months - I need more information on the paintings, both as they are developing, and after the fact.

So, I have started a secong blog: www.turtledovedesigns.blogspot.com.

As of today, current pet portraits and animal paintings, works in process, are still published on my website. As my website is also a work in process itself, that structure is subject to change. The wet paint page on my site will alwats contain current paintings on the easel (check today's date against that of the post). This new pet portraits and animal paintings blog will hold a small history of paintings and their evolution.

If you are interested in seeing a complete pet portraits or animal paintings portfolio (I fondly refer to them as 4-legged paintings), that is always available on my website.

Paintings for sale can also be viewed there, on the "Available for Purchase" page.

And, there is additional information on the whole commission process, too.

What I hope is that separating my blogs into two parts - lessons learned from the actual work - will help with my clarity. Also, structuring work in process on the new blog, with sequential entries in the form of my comments, will help restructure the actual process on any given work. (As I have 6 or more pieces in process at any given time, this will be especially useful to me!)

Please bear with me, as it may take a day or two to get some content built on that second blog page. I'm juggling this along with some other exhibition deadlines and three young children with major cases of spring fever.

As with all my websites (and my artwork), I invite your feedback. You have no idea how instrumental your thoughts are to steering my directions (or perhaps distractions) of tomorrow. Feel free to send emails (including any copyright-free photos you think I might find inspirational) to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com.

THANK YOU!!

Kimberly Kelly Santini
www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

Another Lesson

I had another lesson with portrait artist Vianna Szabo, yesterday. She continues to open my eyes and mind, and does so with such ease, it’s scary. Here are a few of the things I am still mulling over.

IMPORTANT – I am painting light, not objects. Seems pretty basic, but it’s a tough one to keep in the forefront of one’s mind when faced with the complexity of a carriage horse’s harness.

LIGHT: There are 5 kinds (as identified by John Singer Sargent) - not to be confused with the temperature of the light
1. Light
2. Shadow
3. Mid-Tone
4. Accents
5. Reflected Light
I had only consciously been thinking about the bottom three. I think for me, paying better attention to the subtle variations within the realms of light and shadow will add to the luminosity of the painting, and better compliment the depth of field.

MIXING COLOR/COLOR CHOICES: First attack the value, then identify hue and temperature, and then finally the intensity. When analyzing the above, it is incredibly helpful to isolate the spot in question. Vianna gave me a blank white index card with a small hole cut in the middle of it. Amazing how something that appears violet in front of me became bluer when viewer through the card. This helped me with mixing the right shade on my palette.

PAINTING APPROACH: Vianna attacks her paintings in sections, concentrating on the relationship of the areas in one part of her composition, but at the same time, consciously thinking about the light and how it’s bouncing through and around the objects. Conversely, I seem to work in batches, mixing one puddle of paint, and applying it across the surface. Modifying my approach – keeping more paint on my palette at any given time – allows me to mix gradations for more subtler value and temperature shifts. I’m anxious to put this idea to work on a larger canvas.
NOTE: Paint drying too quickly on your palette? Having to mix colors so much so when adding mediums, that you lose the density and interest of a looser combination? A trick I recently learned from a student of mine (thank you Laura!), was to puddle glazing medium overtop a blob of acrylic paint on my palette. The medium keeps the pigment from drying out, and mixtures can retain their “ribboned” quality easily.

After class, she invited me to stay and watch a segment of a Richard Schmit video. I was convinced that Vianna made things look easy, but then I watched him, and my mind was blown away.

My theory is that their eyes are trained so well in isolating a particular item, and they are so familiar with their pigments and materials, that everything falls together seemingly without effort. Practice makes darn close to perfect.

So I’m off for some practice myself.

Kimberly Kelly Santini
www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

A Wedding Gift

Years ago, my neice handed me a stack of photos upon her return from a long vacation through northern Canada, and joking said to use them as inspiration for her wedding painting. We had a good laugh - she wasn't even dating anyone seriously - but the photos were beautiful shots of sunrises over vast expanses, with lots of interesting architecture and sort of an old world feel. Not my typical subject matter choice, so I dutifully filed them away, and sort of forgot about it.

Then, two Christmases ago, she got engaged. After the bubbly was passed around, and the euphoria had settled in, I remembered those photos tucked into a drawer in my studio, and couldn’t wait to dig them out.

I chose a wonderful old Montreal building façade, with overflowing window boxes greeting a late morning sun. I did a few sketches, a value study or two, and then floundered when it came to choosing the painting size. The file sat buried on my desk, yet again forgotten.

A few months ago I stretched a nice sized canvas, 18x24, and blocked the painting in. Not confidant of my abilities to paint straight lines, it hung on my wall, ostensibly for me to study while deciding what the next step would be. Of course, it got a little dangerous, when I remembered at the last minute to stash the painting in a closet prior to a visit by the bride to be. And there the painting sat, again, seemingly never to be tackled with abandon.

That ended this morning. After all, the wedding’s only 8 days away, and there’s nothing like a deadline to get me going!

I modified my palette a little for this one. Cadmium red dark, cadmium yellow dark, and azurite hue. The azurite gave a lovely green tint to the grays, which played up the limestone façade beautifully.

I did find myself wanting to reach for a darker blue, as the azurite is essentially a stain, and didn't lead to terribly dark values. But I exercised some restraint, and left it as is. For now.

I also am considering cropping the sky and dormers out…… and still need to clean up the mullions and trim on the windows. I'll live with it for the weekend, and see what it tells me it needs come Monday morning.

But overall it’s not such a bad painting (coming from someone who does pet portraits exclusively!), and one more example of how important it’s been for me to step out of my comfort zone.

Kimberly Kelly Santini
www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

2006 Flower Fair

Last Saturday I had the best time! I set up my easel on the streets of downtown Lake Orion, as part of their annual Flower Fair street festival. Not only did the sun actually shine (we hadn’t seen it’s face in a10 days), but because of a last minute cancellation on “artists’ way,” I garnered a booth-sized space.

Having planned only to work on one canvas, I hadn’t arranged for a tent or any sort of formal setup. Thanks to my husband (who returned to the house for a second load!), I was able to set up both easels and a small table with an array of works, both finished and in process. They are, from left to right:

• Untitled (two black dogs), from the Larger than Life series, 24x24 (standing on my new Julian plein air easel, which I adore!!), exhibition painting (I highlighted this one in another blog post below, see "Symphony in Blue").
• Sunbather (horizontal cat painting on top of table easel), from the Larger than Life series, 16x8, available for purchase.
• Untitled (white cat painting on bottom of table easel), from the Larger than Life series, 18x14, exhibition painting.
• Red (chestnut horse painting), from the Larger than Life series, 54x28, available for purchase.
• Fergie (viszla head study), from the Larger than Life series, 36x36, commissioned pet portrait.

FYI: For those of you interested in the background of my space, that is the boarded-up front of the new Sagebrush Cantina. You may recall that this restaurant, along with 5 other businesses encompassing 1/2 a block, burned to the ground in March 2004. The buildings have been rebuilt, and the new Sagebrush is supposed to open in July. Hello margueritas!!

I met some amazing people, took photos of one unbelievably personable dog (Boomer, a labradoodle), actually accomplished quite a bit on the painting in question, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Overall, a highly successful day.

The piece I worked on, an as of yet untitled painting of two border collie mixes, came quite a ways during the course of the day. I am happy with the layers of blues and purples in the undercoats of the black dogs, and short of an adjustment I’ll make to correct the length of the smaller dog’s nose, I am relatively close to starting on the final layers.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by – and a very special thank you to Holly Hatfield of Red River Vizslas, who brought Thyme all the way from Kentucky to meet her painting, which is available for purchase.

Kimberly Kelly Santini
www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

Untitled (but Lucy)

I have had the inspiration photo for this painting for about 6 weeks now. I knew I wanted to soften the image, but wasn’t quite certain how to go about that. So I tried several smaller studies, which have been staring me down from my desk – none of them quite captured the modified sense of light I was looking for.

So how did I solve this problem? I went bigger and I chose 4 completely different colors. Yeah, that doesn’t make any sense – to step away from all the studying I had been doing with the new palette these last few months, and try something entirely different on an even bigger scale.

But somehow it worked.

So here’s Lucy, almost finished. At 18x14 she’s larger than life, but serenely unpretentious. I used primarily Quinacridone Red, Cad Yellow Dark, Azurite Hue and Cobalt Blue. I reached for some Raw Umber, Cad Red Med, and Bone Black for minute details around the eyes and collar. The two blues combined to give some interesting green to blue to violet shadows, but one thing I did realize was that this combination of colors did not give me a dense enough neutral (hence the addition of bone black).

I want to make the ground richer and darker still, and might lay down another layer or two of a red glaze, but I’m going to live with the painting for a little bit first, and see if she tells me anything else.

And she needs a title, too - I'm open to suggestions. Usually they come to me while I’m working, but nothing rose to the surface today. Initial thoughts are “Bells” or maybe “Wren” or “Sparrow” – something alluding to her bird hunting skills. But then the old standby is just her name, “Lucy.”

Thanks to Erin Chop for allowing me to “borrow” Lucy for a bit – I would love to paint her again. Hint, hint, Erin - send more photos!! (grin)

Actually, for those of you reading this - I am always looking for inspiration. You are welcome to send me photos of your dog or cat for consideration for my next painting. You may send your materials via email to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com, with the subject line of "New Model." I am currently preparing work for a number of shows that call for canine, feline, and equine characters.

Meanwhile, I’m planning to enter this painting in the Birmingham Michigan’s Community House October 2006 juried exhibition, titled “Our Town.” I will keep you posted if she makes the cut.

Kimberly Kelly Santini
www.turtledovedesigns.com
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings