Portrait of a Japanese Bobtail

In case you did not get a full sense of Suzu the cat in the last painting, here is her portrait.  She is so adorable, funny and cuddly.  Bodhi the dog is so used to her now, I might go as far to say they are friends. We are so lucky she needed to be adopted just when we needed her.

Suzu - Stage 4 - FINAL

I was so disappointed that I could not post this last night.  I came down to find the rainbow beach ball of doom spinning on my screen, though nothing else was moving - CRASH! I tried restarting and that did not help. My husband tried to "repair" the drive and it could not complete the repair.  So, tonight our computer is checked in at the Apple store and we are hoping they can diagnose the problem.  In the mean time, my son, who is away at college, graciously allowed me to use his computer to post this to you.

So here is the Final Suzu.  The face is thinned out, the mouth is smaller, and the ears are a darker tone.  Her eyes are a wild black.  It wasn't until after we got her home and got some antibiotics for her eyes that I noticed that they were actually a light icy green. My next portrait of Suzu will have to be one that shows her pretty eyes in their calm and soothing state.

I hope you enjoyed the Stages of Suzu!

Suzu - Stage 3

In Stage 3 I added more of the dark, medium and light tones in the body, face and ears.  I added features to the nose, mouth and eyes and then painted in the red background.  I even signed it but there is something not quite right about the face.  I will have to revisit her face in a final stage to see if I can adjust whatever it is that is bugging me.  Usually, when I leave a painting overnight and come back to it, I either love it after all or see what needs to be worked on.  Until tomorrow!

Suzu - Stage 2

In stage 2 I have blocked in her dark tones, then some of the light and medium tones. One thing to note, white is never white.  It is rare that I use white straight out of the tube on the painting.  If it is not some shade of gray, there is nearly always some other color mixed in, however light.

30 Marketing Ideas in 30 Days - Showing a work in Progress - Suzu

This is stage #1 of a current painting in progress.  First I take care of the blank canvas problem by covering everything with a terra rosa paint mixed with some mineral spirits. I then draw or map out what I want to paint, blocking in the dark tones and wiping out paint to indicate the light tones.

After we lost our cat Rosy, my husband decided he wanted to give a home to another cat.  This is Suzu.  She is an adorable Japanese bobtail cat we adopted from a rescue group.  She weighs only 6 lbs. which is full size for a female Japanese bobtail. Though small, she is packed full of energy and love.

30 Marketing Ideas in 30 Days Challenge - Creating a Collage

Today's challenge was to make a photo collage of some of my paintings using iPiccy.  This was so easy and fun (and free!) that I definitely see a lot of collages in my future.

Culver and Barranca and the 30 Marketing Ideas in 30 Day Challenge - Day #2

I am participating in the 30 Marketing Ideas in 30 Days Challenge, brought to me by the organizer of the the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge, painter and marketer extraordinaire, Leslie Saeta.  Today's challenge is to promote an older, great painting that just hasn't sold.  I love clouds and wild colored sunsets and this one just materialized before me one night last year.  I quickly snapped some photos and sometime later decided I would try to paint the scene.  It was really happy with how it turned out - just like the sunset I had seen that night and all in a tiny 4x6 inch package.

To purchase this painting click here.