Thank you!

To who purchased my oil paintings last night to support our local animal shelter:
Thank you --
especially for supporting the animals, because they really need it!
I hope the artwork provides enjoyment for a long time to come.
When I delivered the artwork on April 1, all four oil paintings were recently completed, unvarnished, and unframed.
One suggestion to protect a painting from surface damage and make it easier to handle is to frame it (I would have done that myself if they hadn't sold last night, because I would have kept them).
I also recommend to prevent fading the painting be kept out of direct sunlight.
If any of the paintings ever needs to find another good home, please don't hesitate to contact me (I love those cats!).
To the event sponsors: Congratulations on the success of your event! Thanks for your contribution and for being a valued part of the community!

Newest paintings: four small ones for a good cause

Because I have time to update my blog today --

Couldn't figure out why images weren't getting added to this post until I realized it worked okay if I used Google's Chrome browser instead of Microsoft's Internet Explorer.... 

Anyway...

Here's my latest project: four paintings that may be used to raise funds for a local animal rescue league.

Again, these posted images have had the size and quality adjusted for uploading purposes.

I prefer canvas, but once again the league required the work be done on 6 x 6 inch boards (which they generously provided for free). They asked the work not be framed, which concerns me because I don't use varnish and would like to avoid surface damage. However, it seemed to work out okay last year (I made four paintings for that event, too – two cats, a dog, and a flower -- which all sold). This year’s event is organized a bit differently (different location, criteria, caterer…). I think last year I knew about the event more in advance, too, so I could work at a more leisurely pace.

If my panels don't sell at the show, I'm hoping they’ll be returned to me so that I can have them framed and keep them myself, as the subjects are four different cats which I love a great deal (Simon, Riley, Meowy, and George). In fact, I love them so much, I’ve painted them all before (and images of those paintings are posted somewhere on this blog, although to see them you’ll probably have to go to “older posts” from previous years).

In this series of paintings, Meowy is the tabby on the table with the flowers, Simon is the black shorthair laying on the bed, George is the brown and white longhair shown in profile, and Riley is the fluffy ginger cat curled up napping on his furniture.

I think my next two paintings will be of things I encountered in the wee hours of the morning when I had a paper route a few years ago….

Harry II (with tulips)....

Here is an oil painting I recently completed. The subject is my sister's dog named Harry, sitting in his yard. My sis is a big tulip fan, and now she can stop asking me when I'm going to paint Harry's portrait for her. The size of the original is 11 x 14, and I intend to frame it soon. As usual, the image here has been resized / adjusted for uploading.

This quote is really from almost 150 years ago....

"If I did not so delight in the grand pictures that are spread before me every day of my life by that monarch of all the old masters, Nature, I should come to believe, sometimes, that I had in me no appreciation of the beautiful, whatsoever."
-- Mark Twain, from "The Innocents Abroad, or, The New Pilgrims' Progress; Being Some Account of the Steamship Quaker City's Pleasure Excursion to Europe and the Holy Land; with Descriptions of Countries, Nations, Incidents and Adventures, As They Appeared to the Author" (1869)

Second half of enlargement project...

Here's the second half of my experiment based on some 6 x 6 paintings I recently completed on boards supplied by the Animal Rescue League (they went to good homes). As noted in my last post, I had studied the subjects for so long, the images were rather tattoo-ed on my brain. And because they were images of especially loved pets, I decided to use that experience of creating small images as studies for making larger 8 x 10 versions on canvas for my own enjoyment. Here is the second of two -- it was nice to be able to include a bit more detail in a larger size, but it's really a labor of love more than anything else. As usual, the image here has been resized / adjusted for uploading.
I have many new paintings planned. Next may be my sister's dog (which I owe her for her birthday, which was a couple of weeks ago!)

An 8 x 10 of a 6 x 6 ....

Here's an experiment: I recently did some 6 x 6 paintings on boards supplied by the Animal Rescue League. They went to good homes. I had studied the subjects for so long, the images were rather tattoo-ed on my brain. And because they were images of especially loved pets, I decided to use that experience of creating small images as studies for making larger 8 x 10 versions on canvas for my own enjoyment. Here is the first of two -- it was nice to be able to include a bit more detail in a larger size, but it's really a labor of love more than anything else. As usual, the image here has been resized / adjusted for uploading.
I am happy to have work exhibited at the Fells here in New Hampshire this summer (the show is called "The Art of Nature in New Hampshire and Vermont").
I'm also looking forward to maybe seeing the rarely exhibited Monet that is currently on display at the Currier.

Second half of a project for a good cause

Here's the second half of my project, which is to produce four paintings that will be used to raise funds for a local animal rescue league. As I noted when I previously posted the first two paintings (below, of a yellow rose and my sister's cat named Meowy), I prefer canvas, but the league required the work be done on 6 x 6 inch masonite boards. They asked the work not be framed, which concerns me because I don't use varnish and would like to avoid surface damage, but I'm just going to attach a note to them about that and am not going to worry about it. Again, these posted images have had the size and quality adjusted for uploading purposes.

These two paintings are of my cat named Riley, and my sister's dog named Harry. As usual, these posted images have had the size and quality adjusted for uploading purposes.