UPDATED Radar’s owner decided the eyes were too closed; not the expression she wanted, so I re-did the eyes with a more alert expression. The client was pleased! Radar’s portrait is one of 5 small paintings of my client Ellen’s dogs, a series to add to two I’d done for her in the past. This … Read More “Radar – Digital Portrait of a Golden Retriever”
Katie8″ x 10″, Acrylic on Aquabord© Xan Blackburn 2014 The differences between this and the previous stage may seem small, but they are the difference between not-done and done. Or thinking I’m done. I thought I was done last night, but apparently, that was not the case, as I saw some things I wanted to … Read More “Greyhound Katie’s Portrait: Done”
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 … Read More “More Katie …”
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 … Read More “Katie the Greyhound, Portrait”
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 … Read More “Truman”
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 … Read More “Shawn’s Portrait: Love story”
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, … Read More “Shawn’s portrait progressing”
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 … Read More “Spring Forward”
Jilly BeanRIPacrylic on canvas panel, 8 x 10© Xan Blackburn A dear friend to many, a mascot to the greyhound community, a girl who has taught many foster hounds to respect little dogs, Judy and Mike’s little Jilly Bean passed away on Dec. 18. That afternoon, a mutual friend asked if I’d be willing to … Read More “Jilly Bean Memorial Portrait”
Dad and Lillyacrylic on canvas, 11 x 14© Xan Blackburn I realized today that I’d never shown you the final version of this painting! Silly Xan. It started way back here, and I wrapped it up right before the Portrait Marathon. I now realize I didn’t get many progress pics either, so this will have … Read More “”
