Pet Portrait Paintings from my Portfolio, Double Trouble!

It's been awhile since I posted new Pet Portrait Paintings!  I had an incredible Christmas season, and am only catching my breath on my wait list!  While they are drying and getting ready for detailing, I thought I'd share a few!  Let's call this collection "Double Trouble!"

Starting with two cute scruffy dogs!  They are fun to paint but take a lot of layers.

Pet Portrait Family Photo

And here's a golden retriever with his little pal, love the expressive eyes!

Golden Retriever and Pal Oil Painting

And finally today, Black and Tan.  No, not a beer cocktail!  Two siblings hanging out on the couch!

Oil Painting by Philadelphia Pet Portrait Artist Robin Zebley

More Pet Portrait Oil Paintings by me, Robin Zebley, here at my Portrait Site, CustomPortraitArt.net  

Thanks for stopping by!  Robin

How to take photos of your art. Don't ask me!

 

I'm really happy with this painting of a Japanese Chin that I did, but you will never know because my terrible photography skills won't show it as it is!

This has been a thorn in my side that I can't seem to overcome.  Especially in the wintertime when a dash outdoors to try and get a decent shot while the wind does its best to make a painting airborne.

This is the best of the shots I got, and is dark, but glared.  Photoshopping made it a little better, but I am so frustrated that it's not good enough to put on my pet portrait site or my Etsy Shop as a sample.

I did enjoy painting her.  The nose!  The eyes!  And that fluffy, tangled fur.  I painted in lots of color but so flat looking here.  Also, the cushion made of kimono fabric I found online to paint.  It's really a modified cerulean blue, with tones of greens, reds, cool blues and whites in the pattern.

Ah, well.  Lesson learned here is not to mail out commissions til I check and make sure I get a better shot, no matter what it takes!  Anyway, this gorgeous Japanese Chin is oil on canvas, 8 x 10.

Moving my Art Studio Outside!

Sarge Watching me work on a pet portrait...of someone else!

Since I have begun painting pet portraits in oil on canvas, I have really struggled with where to do it.  Colored pencil is no issue, it's totally portable, makes no mess and doesn't need to dry.

So I have a bin of pencils, masonite boards cut to size that I tape my pieces on, and a battery operated sharpener.

But the oils?  We tried squeezing it into my Etsy vintage shop storeroom, the light was bad and it was hot.  Plus, there was so little room, and since Sarge, the studio dog, likes to be with me, I was tripping over him in the crammed space.  Not good!!

We tried using a corner of the dining room.  I hated that, the light is fabulous but the mess was incredible.  I am not a neat by nature person and am a very messy painter, so having wet paint in the middle room of my downstairs meant my whole house looked and was a mess.

But...I have this fabulous screen gazebo in the back yard!  There's still half a summer and part of fall where that is a great place to paint!  I found an old storage trunk in my vintage-to-sell pile and transformed that into an all-weather oil painting supplies locker and tucked it into a corner.  Easy to clean up!  I just bring my painting into the mudroom at night.

There's already a nice table there, and I have a french easel. 

But some days it really is hot.  I grabbed a long, heavy duty extension cord and ran it out.  I have a multiplug thing for the end to plug a small fan and a radio into.  And I am set!

I've been getting so much done out there!  Sarge loves it, he gets to play in his yard, or sleep on the rug in the gazebo. 

I don't know what I'll do in the winter.  I figure I have until the end of October at the most.  So I have to get busy!!!