Category: Animals

Categories
Animals Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Sketchbook Pages

Dog Chew Toy Technology: It’s a Brave New World

Dog Chews 1, ink and watercolor, 5x7 in
Dog Chews 1, ink and watercolor, 5×7 in

It’s a brave new world out there when it comes to doggie chew toys; much different than when I last had a dog a couple of decades ago. My 7-month old puppy loves to chew and it keeps her busy when I’m painting so I’ve been exploring (and drawing) the many new kinds of dog chew toys.

My previous dogs chewed rawhide (now known to not be good for dogs) or bones leftover from making soup (also not good, can splinter), and when naughty chewed the occasional shoe, pillow, kids homework, or dirty clothes (one chewed the arm off my mother’s sofa). Chewing for dogs is like reading a good book for us.

Two of Millie’s favorites so far are in the sketch above: a circular Bully Treat and an ostrich leg purchased from an upscale pet boutique Millie dragged me into when we walked by. The roasted ostrich bone is light and has a texture like honeycomb; it’s all digestible and doesn’t splinter, but it’s huge and while not cheap, for its size it’s not that expensive.

If you don’t know what Bully Treats or Bully Sticks (aka Pizzles) are, prepare to be grossed out. A Bully Stick is a bull penis that has been stretched, twisted or even braided and then roasted. They are 100% protein, entirely digestible (unlike rawhide), take a fairly long time to chew and won’t break dogs’ teeth like bones can.

They’re pretty smelly (even the “low odor” ones), but don’t leave a mess (except the one Millie buried in the backyard for a couple of weeks to let it ripen). It was unbelievably gross. I confiscated it immediately  and now only give them to her when I can be sure she won’t bury it outdoors.

 

 

 

 

Categories
Animals Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Sketchbook Pages

What the Wasp Wants

What the Wasp Wants, ink and watercolor, 5x7 in (wasp in the flower)
What the Wasp Wants, ink and watercolor, 5×7 in

This wasp just wanted nectar from the flower. My friend Barbara just spent big bucks getting rid of hundreds of wasps that built nests in her attic and were invading her house. We don’t know what they wanted. This is the last of the leftover sketches from our endless summer, now being called California’s worst drought in 500 years.

Meanwhile, I’m still spending time previously used for sketching out hiking with my pup (but from now on I’m going to start carrying my sketching gear on our hikes and stop halfway to sketch). Thinking a morning 4-6 mile hike would tire her out, I’ve been painting in the studio in the afternoons while she attempts to re-landscape the yard. She’s a perfect angel in the house, but when we’re in the studio (that opens onto the backyard) she goes wild, digging up and chewing on random junk from under the trees and bushes that circle the yard, despite her comfy bed in the studio, fully stocked with chew toys.

Today I caught her chewing on an old broken hose nozzle, a piece of plastic pipe, various twigs and pieces of plants, and a stinky chew toy she’d previously buried. Then we play chase while I try to swap her for something healthier. That gives me an idea for some sketching tomorrow–all her toys and chewie things, many which are quite weird.

Categories
Animals Bay Area Parks Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Pt. Richmond Sketchbook Pages

Christmas Goose and a White Pelican

Canadian Goose, Knox Miller Park, ink and watercolor, 5x7 in
Canadian Goose, Knox Miller Park, ink and watercolor, 5×7 in

After an extraordinary autumn and early winter, with many things other than art going on in my life, I’ve gotten way behind on posting. This goose isn’t really a Christmas goose, it’s a summer goose, as are the rest of these sketches from Knox Miller park.

Knox Miller Park Clouds, watercolor, 5x7 in
Knox Miller Park Clouds, watercolor, 5×7 in

Knox Miller Park in Pt. Richmond is so pretty, with a lagoon of sorts, grassy meadows and the bay and mountains of Marin in the distance. The birds were all sketched from photos, the little landscape above was the only sketch I managed to do on site, after arriving late and feeling poorly that day.

Knox Miller Goose, ink and watercolor 5x7 in
Knox Miller Goose, ink and watercolor 5×7 in

Silly goose. My first attempt at drawing him from a photo.

White Pelican, Knox Miller Park, ink, watercolor and gouache, 5x7 in
White Pelican, Knox Miller Park, ink, watercolor and gouache, 5×7 in

I struggled and struggled trying to draw and paint this unusual white pelican from a blurry photo. I ended up adding some gouache to get back some white, which never really works well.

Categories
Albany Animals Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Outdoors/Landscape Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Urban Avians and the Highway

Birdwatching at Albany Bulb 1, ink and watercolor, 5x7 in
Birdwatching at Albany Bulb 1, ink and watercolor, 5×7 in

While I was having my car’s oil changed at Toyota Albany I took a hike down to the SF Bay Trail to sketch. I followed a confusing bike and walking path that goes up onto an overpass and then down under the freeway. It leads to the marsh on the way out to Albany Bulb, a spit of land homesteaded by the homeless that the city is constantly trying to reclaim. There were birds everywhere, including the beautiful, delicate white Snowy Egrets that always delight me (above).

Pigeons on the Freeway, ink and watercolor, 5x7 in
Pigeons on the Freeway, ink and watercolor, 5×7 in

I even spotted birds living right on the freeway walls; the family of pigeons above didn’t seem disturbed by the constant roar of cars. The hike was a bit isolated, and it felt spooky walking under the freeways, even on a sunny weekday morning. Fortunately the few people I saw along the way were polite bicyclists. No trolls living under these bridges like the Brothers Grimm fairytale I remember with horror from my childhood.

Birdwatching at Albany Bulb, ink, 5x7 in
Birdwatching at Albany Bulb, ink, 5×7 in

While I was sketching, a man was photographing birds nearby and he told me the names of the birds we were seeing, and how to differentiate them. I made notes on my sketch as I tried to figure out the basic shape of the birds.

Categories
Animals Ink and watercolor wash Life in general

Happy 90th Birthday, Mom

90 Ladybugs for Mom's 90th Birthday, ink and watercolor, 5x7 in
90 Ladybugs for Mom’s 90th Birthday, ink and watercolor, 5×7 in

One of the many things I have to be thankful for this holiday season is that my mother just turned 90! I made this little birthday card for her with 90 ladybugs on it. Ninety sounds like a big number but when illustrated with ladybugs it doesn’t seem like that much.

She is still going strong, living independently in her own home, driving in the crazy L.A. traffic, cooking her own meals, and managing her own affairs. A few years ago she bought a computer and though it drives her crazy with its seeming capriciousness, she usually wins the battle to find her email, read it, and even print it when the stars really line up right.

She doesn’t paint anymore, but you can see a gallery of her artwork here from around the 1950s. Below is my favorite of her paintings: my grandmother Gertie.

My mother's oil painting of my grandmother
My mother’s oil painting of her mother, my grandmother
Categories
Animals Oil Painting

Sam: A Border Collie Dog Portrait in Oils

Sam, A Dog Portrait in Oils, Oil on Panel, 8x8"
Sam, A Dog Portrait in Oils, Oil on Panel, 8×8″

I wish I had a dog but since I don’t, at least I can paint them! This dog portrait in oil was commissioned by a woman as a gift to her father-in-law of his dog. I had to wait to share it here until I was sure the painting was in the gentleman’s hands. I learned that lesson the hard way.

Once I posted a watercolor commission in progress of a house, a gift from a wife to her husband. Their daughter was searching online for the Oakland Federal Building and it led her to my sketch of that building on my blog. From there she landed on a post about spilling my coffee on the nearly completed watercolor painting of the home. She was shocked to see it was the house she’d grown up in. She called her mother right away to tell her (not her father, fortunately).

It all worked out fine in the end but I don’t post gift paintings now until they’ve been given.

Categories
Animals Ink and watercolor wash Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Sketching in the Lamp Shop

Lamp sketch: Fertility and Glass, ink & watercolor 5x8"
Fertility and Glass, ink & watercolor 5×8″

Last night our sketch group visited Sue Johnson Lamps in Berkeley, a shop that has specialized in custom, artisan-made lamps and shades since the 1970’s. Sue generously held the store open late for us and even offered us tea and persimmon pudding. We all fell in love with their amazing variety of hand-crafted works of art that also happen to light up.

A good example of the variety: on the left above, a “ceremonial fertility carving” of a mother with big hair and a (very stiff) baby on her lap and an exquisite hand-blown glass base that lights up from inside with a shade embellished in lovely Japanese print fabric.

sketch of elephant and parrot lamps in ink & watercolor
Parrot and Elephant Lamps, ink & watercolor, 5×8″

And then there was a whole menagerie of animal lamps: birds, elephants, dogs, monkeys, frogs and more. Sketching the elephant made me realize how much I didn’t know about what elephants look like. I hope we’ll be invited back again because there is so much more there to draw.

Be sure to see my sketch buddies’ very different drawings on our Urban Sketchers blog: see Cathy’s, Ceinwen‘s, Sonia’s, Cristina‘s, (and I’ll add links to Susan’s and Micaela’s when they get them posted).

Sketchbook spread with lamps, 5x16"
Sketchbook 2-page spread with lamps, 5×16″
Categories
Animals Oil Painting

Cocoa: A Dog Portrait

Cocoa: Dog Portrait, oil on panel, 8x8"
Cocoa: Dog Portrait, oil on panel, 8×8″

When I was given the photo of Cocoa to paint from, I pointed out that her face was covered with mud or sand. I was asked if I could paint her without the dirt. I laughed, since I’d just finished a commissioned watercolor from a photo of an industrial building that was partially hidden by cars, which they requested I remove in the painting. Since I pulled off that bit of x-ray vision (not really—I visited the facility to see what was hidden), I thought I might be able to paint a clean dog from a dirty one.

My favorite part to paint was her nose. I referred to the second photo below to see her fur color sans mud.

Cocoa in her sandy face photo
Cocoa in her muddy-face photo
Cocoa minus the mud
Clean Cocoa

The person who commissioned the painting as a gift for Cocoa’s owner said the painting looks just like Cocoa and she was sure her owner would love the painting. (I hope so!)

Cocoa Preliminary Sketch 2
Cocoa Preliminary Sketch 2
Cocoa Preliminary Sketch 1
Cocoa Preliminary Sketch 1

Above are the preliminary sketches I did loosely, just playing around, trying to get to know Cocoa. I love dogs and I love painting dogs!

Categories
Animals Art business Drawing Oil Painting Painting Portrait Sketchbook Pages

Puck: A Dog Portrait in Oils (delivered with tears and hugs)

Puck, a dog portrait in oil on linen panel, 8x10"
Puck, a dog portrait in oil on linen panel, 8×10″

This was a first: when I delivered the painting it made its owner cry! And hug me. And make me cry!  I know how much Puck, who is getting there up in dog years, means to his owner so I really wanted the painting to turn out well. And I got lucky; this one just seemed to paint itself. Of course I know that saying, “The more I practice, the luckier I get” which I think was true in this case. I put thought into the painting before I put any paint on the canvas and have certainly been putting in lots of practice time in the studio.

Puck, a warm up sketch, ink & watercolor, 6x8"
Puck, a warm-up sketch, ink & watercolor, 6×8″

I always start my paintings with at least one preliminary sketch to get to know the subject. I don’t try to do a perfect rendering, just a visual exploration and attempt to understand what I see.

Today was a big day for delivering commissioned and gift paintings. I delivered five: two watercolors (a large painting of a corporate headquarters commissioned for a gift to a retiring CEO, and a double portrait of two little sisters) and three oils (this and another dog portrait and a portrait of a woman as a gift for her husband).

I can’t post the others until they’ve been gifted. And I have two more dog portraits in progress. I love it!

Categories
Animals Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Oil Painting Painting Sketchbook Pages

Garbanzo Bean The Dog: A Portrait and a Sketch

Garbanzo Bean, Dog Portrait in Oil, 10x8"
Garbanzo Bean, Dog Portrait in Oil, 10×8″

I painted this portrait of a dog named Garbanzo Bean from a bad cell phone photo (see below). I’m posting it here for Garbanzo’s owner to see if she’d like me to make any changes before I deliver it.

Preliminary sketch, ink & watercolor, 8x6
Preliminary sketch, ink & watercolor, 8×6

Before I do an oil painting I usually do an ink and watercolor sketch first to try to get the feel of the subject and understand it better. This sketch isn’t a good likeness but it might have captured his feisty spirit even though it portrays him as a much bigger dog than his tiny chihuahua self.

Garbazo's photo
Garbanzo’s photo

Garbanzo is a very cute dog but the photo’s color and detail was funky. His owner’s favorite color is lavender so I made up a lavender wall in her apartment. I hope she likes it!