“Sushi” 8″ x 10″ acrylic on Claybord, © Xan Blackburn Sushi! Isn’t sushi supposed to be something created quickly, from fresh ingredients, beautifully presented? Well, Sushi’s portrait took me a whole week, but, I hope she presents well anyway. I’m pleased! Sushi is a breed mixed to perfection for her active family. They take her on … Read More “Sushi, #6 in the Portrait Marathon”
Stella – work in progress, stage 3acrylic on Aquabord8″ x 10″© Xan Blackburn Stella, the sleeping beauty! Okay, she’s not sleeping in this portrait, but her owner tells me that she sleeps a lot, and sent me several photos of her in that state. Sounds like a greyhound to me! (Contrary to popular belief, greyhounds … Read More “Stella, the Sleeping Beauty”
Luki acrylic on panel, 8″ x 10″ © Xan Blackburn Delicate Luki! I really enjoyed building up these hot and cool layers to create this pup’s portrait. It feels like that may capture her personality, in a way, maybe echoing her own internal contrasts. I only took a couple pictures besides the final scan … Read More “PM – Luki’s portrait complete”
Luki – work in progress 8″ x 10″, acrylic and conte crayon on panel © Xan Blackburn I’m pleased with this stage, though I had hoped to be a bit further along by quitting time tonight. Well, life, in all it’s variability, will make hash of the best of plans, eh? Here’s a quick … Read More “PM – Luki (greyhound portrait)”
MomaDigital painting (Artrage Pro)© Xan Blackburn Wow. Well, I’m pretty happy with that, though it did take a lot of hours to get it there. This detail shows a little bit more how much detail I squeezed into this 5 x 7 painting: Moma (detail)Digital painting (Artrage Pro)© Xan Blackburn Yes, those are all individual … Read More “Moma – Another Digital Portrait Painting”
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 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”
So, “vacation” might not be the right word for when you’ve been too sick to work much, but let’s just gloss over that for the time being (except to say, if you’re old enough for the shingles vaccine, go get it!!) (NOW!) (If you want to be seriously grossed out by my shingles story, click … Read More “What I did on my “Summer Vacation””
