Surprising Sadie, Done

Sadie (eye detail)
Wow.  Well, once I got rolling, this just went like a flash!  Isn’t it funny, ha ha, that the painting part of this portrait actually went quickly, but all the hair-pulling, sketching, sighing and laying in bed at night imagining the painting took days!  I should be used to that, but there ya go. I …

Bud – Digital Pet Portrait, and my Other Job

BudDigital painting (Artrage 4)5″ x 7″ @300dpi© Xan Blackburn 2014 My series of paintings of Ellen’s dogs continues with handsome Bud.  I loved his gentle, relaxed smile, his soft hair and wonderful markings, but who could resist those bluuuuuuue eyes! Working on paintings in a digital way allows a lot of freedom to experiment without committing …

More Katie …

Katie – work in progressacrylic on Aquabord panel© Xan Blackburn Some good work on this, today.  Building up more layers of color in the background, approaching the values (light/dark) I want around the portrait in general, and pretty close to done in some areas. I had the idea today to make the shadows warm, and …

Katie the Greyhound, Portrait

Katie – work in progress, detailgraphite on Aquabord panelcopyright Xan Blackburn 2013 Now, here’s a challenge.  Katie the greyhound was a lovely girl, much loved by her humans.  Okay, that’s not unusual for my clients and subjects.  Katie was mostly white, which presents the challenges of subtlety in shading, particularly where there is no strong …

Truman

Truman11″ x 14″, Acrylic on Canvascopyright 2014 Xan Blackburn Truman … I loved this big boy.  He was my first big greyhound crush who was not my own dog.  I rarely get to meet the subjects of my artwork, but Truman and his family are friends I’ve visited with all up and down the west …

Shawn’s Portrait: Love story

Shawn greyhound portrait
ShawnAcrylic on canvas, 9″ x 12″© Xan Blackburn 2013 Well, there you go. I swear I took some progress pics along the way, but the changes were so subtle that it was hard to see, once I got going with the colors.  So, yeah.  That’s that.  Done. Oh, but I promised you a love story …

Shawn’s portrait progressing

Shawn – in progressacrylic on canvas,  9″ x 12″© Xan Blackburn As I mentioned before, Shawn’s portrait has been a long time coming.  I made good progress on him today, and will probably work a bit more this afternoon.   I started this one by covering the entire canvas with a pale coat of cobalt, …

Spring Forward

Shawn in the spotlight Shawn on Dewey Beach This portrait has been gestating since … Oh my … April, 2008!  Kelly won a portrait by me in a raffle, way back when, and we never did pin down just who was going to get the treatment.  Kelly finally decided Shawn would take center stage, we …