Didn't realize I haven't blogged in quite a few days. Well a few things have gone on since I last left you all. I started some of the March Madness "photo of choice" winner paintings. I was able to complete Foxy Roxy, the shih tzu that won week 2 and Jack, the schnauzer from week 3. 

I also added a few new pieces to my gallery, Rufio the Napoleon Mastiff and also Wilson a Cockapoo. Rufio was so much fun to paint with his endless amount of wrinkles and also his owner and I put together some ideas of adding metallic silver paint to his painting, which doesn't show too much in the picture, but I promise it is there. We also discussed the background and she is a fun lady with bold tastes, so we went with the lime green blended into the bright yellow. She also posted his painting on his website called Rufio's Rumblings. You can find the link on my "My Fav Links" page. Wilson was also a lot of fun to paint and he had the cutest face. I first painted his background in a popping 2 tone yellow so that his owner could see what it would look like, but we ended up finalizing the piece with this soft green/blue background that I think works equally as well. I made sure to blend a lime green with a soft turquoise and then used a hint of blue around the edges to draw back in the blue tones of his coat.
  
I have so many different types of breeds on my list to paint that I am very excited to start showing you all the next couple of pieces. I also have a new painting that will include more than just one subject, it will include 3 dogs and a dog house and a few extra special touches. That one is going to a client that will be opening up a new doggie daycare center and I am honored to be a part of her shop and have my painting as a representation of her new store. I also will be painting a monkey as well! My first monkey to be a part of the My Paw Portrait gallery. If you were following the March Madness contest, then you would remember Kumiko Jade, the monkey that won week 3 for the most "like" votes. 

Some upcoming events are also going coming into effect. On May 15th, I will be attending another Austin Pets Alive! event out here in Austin, TX to help support my local rescue organization. I am donating the painting of "Monty" the beautiful chocolate lab on a 12x16 canvas towards their silent auction since the last piece I donated "Sleepy Head" helped raise a lot of money. The event is called the Wagathon Walkathon (I have all the information on my home page) and I will be outside in the courtyard of The Galleria Mall with a photographer here in Austin, Angela Lozano, to help promote both of our products and some package pricing for the two of us. I was really upset today because I was going to have a photo shoot with her shooting my dog Ruccus and I, but unexpectedly I discovered my ceiling was leaking and then did some Sherlock Holmes investigating and found out my AC went out and is still leaking even after I turned it off- so no photo shoot today, but sometime soon. And when I do the shoot, I will for sure be posting the pictures on my website as well on my  Facebook page with her link if you are interested in working with this brilliant photographer!

So May has not even popped up yet, but there are so many projects to be done and I am just super excited to get started and post some work in progress photo's for you all, so please stay tuned to both my Facebook page as well as my painting gallery on my site to see some new and exciting pieces! 

March Madness is finally over and I am a little sad. Every week I had a handful of contestants who would submit a photo of their pet and I felt like I was really getting to know my fans and their pups stories. It still amazes me how we can all be from a different place and yet we all have this same common ground. I bet that if we lived near each other, we would all most likely be getting together over a weekend, doing a little BBQ, and bragging about how cute our dogs are and what they did over the week that was funny or mischievous. 


Picking the "photo of choice" winners from each week was a lot harder than I had anticipated. I was able to narrow it down to at least 2-3 per week, but then I just could not choose the tie breaker. So I had to result to putting the names in a hat and seeing who's name came out. It was so close though, I had a few names that were runners up for more than just one week. I wish that I was able to paint them all and offer them all free portraits, but I have to be realistic and know that I will be hosting more contests in the future. The contests are fun and it gives me an idea of where people are talking about My Paw Portrait and spreading the word. But it's mostly for me to give inspired by new dogs and their unique photo's, so even though someone might be winning a free or discounted portrait, they are helping me to stay inspired.

For April, I plan to take the month to catch up on my commissions, as well as, painting and drawing the winning portraits from March Madness. I'll most likely have a 2nd annual Yay! May! Pet Portrait Give Away! since it was a blast last year, especially since Ruccus picked the winner. He will have to make a cameo appearance again, however I will have to think of a new innovative way for him to choose the winner. I think that is the most fair way for a contestant to win the contest, the fact that it won't be based on Facebook "like" votes and it gives everyone a fair chance at winning. 

But enough about the contests- I said I would share some work in progress photo's as I worked on my commissions and I just completed a portrait of a dog named Dexter who lives in Canada. He was gorgeous and so much fun to paint since he was on a large canvas, 18" x 24". The only requests from the owner was to have the background color match his blue binky. He took up most of the canvas and I wanted to pay special attention to his soulful eyes and soft brown and white coat, as well as his big floppy ears.

In the first image of the work in progress, I was working on his head and ears and really trying to capture texture in his coat through his ears since he had these little fly away hairs. In the work in progress 2 photo, it took me forever to capture the right colors and texture for his nose. I kept blending the black, with unbleached titanium white, and then some burnt sienna and burnt umber with a little bit of the flesh tone pink until I finally achieved what I thought looked like his nose. It's interesting because when I blew up the image of his nose, he had so many colors there in different highlighting areas that it might not look like there is that many colors in his nose, but there are. I also mixed some turquoise with the brown tones to create the depth in his coat around his face. And whenever I work on a piece, regardless if I think a section is done, I inevitably wind up going back to that section and making it darker or lighter because of whatever new element I've added had made that area to look muddy. Then you have the completed split screen photo and a larger image of the completed painting. Here you get to see the punch of blue in the background to match his blue binky. I've always loved how blue tones up against brown tones create a beautiful harmonious relationship within a piece. I can always paint funky and bright colors, but I love how soothing these colors are and how they are a bold in their own way. I was very pleased with the way Dexter came out and his mother is eagerly anticipating her custom painting!