Juggling, childrens portrait, dog portrait painting, woodblock print & marketing

Still on the easel is this painting of a little mutt (I love mutts!) on a retro orange vinyl ottoman.  My dilemma is needing a name for this piece, so I am asking my Facebook fans to help.  It's one of the little things I never thought about when I decided that, in addition to my pet and childrens portraits, I'd paint, draw and print pieces to sell at shows and at my Etsy Store.  Speaking of which, I am trying to keep my head down, so to speak.  I've never worked without deadlines before, never.  And then there's the marketing, updating the online sites, looking for shows and galleries that would be a fit.

It's a juggling act that all artists do.  I'm convinced the better you are as a juggler, the better chances for success you have.  Until of course, you're so successful, you can hire people to do it for you.

Back to the dog, I really enjoyed painting the retro, mid century modern ottoman.  I can always put a dog on a carpet or grass, but I really like dark backgrounds with just a hint of something in the back (can you see the curtains?) and well lit foreground.  I see some tweaking, so hopefully will have this guy off and dry and varnished at the same time I have a name!

I've been approached recently for shows and gallery shows.  It's hard to figure out what would work for me, so a lot of thinking and investigating to do.  The important thing for both of those, of course, is to be ready.  So I've been keeping my head down and working.

At the same time, you know I love commission work.  I love collaborating with my clients to create the portrait of their dreams.  It's such a thrill to be chosen and I will never take that for granted.  I'm glad people like my style and how I approach my work.  I'm in the middle of one of a darling little girl, I'll be showing you her in a day or so.

AND, I have a woodblock print of a pug I've been DYING to get to.  Wood is cut, drawing done, new set of my favorite knives bought (I like disposable ones), just need to do it! 

Do I sound like I'm complaining?  The only complaint is the number of hours in a day.  I want to do it all even more!  It's so important to make the most of each minute.  But that's true for all of us, isn't it? Whether you're an artist or not?

Hey, about that name...suggestions welcome, here or HERE.  My Portraits site is http://robinzebley.com/.  Thanks for visiting my blog, I really do appreciate your visit, and I LOVE comments! Robin

Little Boy Portrait

Just wanted to show you what I have been working on...it's a portrait of a little guy in colored pencil. I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed working on children's portraits this week!

As much as I've been joking that I have to remember...it's a "nose", not a "snout", I'm just drawing/painting what I see. I have especially enjoyed studying the hues of skintones and picking up the subtle transitions from the warm pinks and yellows to the cool blues and violets.

I didn't do much to change the composition of the photo of this little one that I took from a copyright free site where photographers offer their work free for the taking for artists to use. I wanted a very dark haired child, since I know I have several very fair skinned kids coming up so I would have some variety for my portfolio. When I was starting out in dog portraits, I had a run of golden retrievers. I think I did 9 in a row! Same thing, I don't want to only have blue eyed blonde girls in my "human" portfolio!

This portrait took about a third of the time it took me to do the little girls. I learned sooo much with that one. This time, although also lit darkly, not in bright sunshine, I started out with an almost light valued blue paper. It definitely helped to have that as the undertone, especially with this particular child's coloring.

I hope you like it! Next on tap will be another child, I am on a roll! Hopefully I'll have another one to show you in a few days.

I'm pet (and children!) artist, Robin Zebley. My portrait and woodblock print site is HERE Would you like to follow my blog? Click on "follow" to the right. To read my whole blog, just click on the banner at the top. Have a comment? I'd love to hear it! Thanks for visiting! Robin