DarcyAcrylic on canvas, 5 x 5© Xan Blackburn 2012 Alrighty! Darcy swam up out of a clear blue lake, or anyway, that was my experience of painting her! Watch the animation to see what I mean. Darcy’s mom calls her a “heart healer”. At almost 12 years old, with this sweet face, you can just … Read More “Portrait Marathon: #2 Darcy”
BeaufortAcrylic on canvas, 5×5© Xan Blackburn 2012 That was fun! Man, this will be great if I can keep up this speed, eh? Here’s Beaufort, who taught his daddy it was okay to love (oh, lordy! where’s my hanky??) Below, you can see a really funky animated gif of the steps of this painting, which … Read More “PM #1: Beaufort the Westie”
SaraDigital painting (ArtRage Studio Pro)5″ x 7″© Xan Blackburn 2012 While sign-ups are going on, I still have some commissions to wrap up. These two are digital paintings, of wolfhound mixes Sara and Roscoe. Wow! That was FUN! (More below … ) RoscoeDigital painting (ArtRage Studio Pro)5″ x 7″© Xan Blackburn 2012 Lily and DaddyAcrylic … Read More “Meanwhile …”
In my last call for commissions, I made a point of offering to add humans to the mix. I got some wonderful reference photos from several of you! This is fairly new territory for me, at least in commissions, but I’m very excited (and anxious, and fascinated) to be here. What I’m passionately interested in … Read More “People in my Pet Portraits”
Petey in progress – Detailacrylic on canvas panel, 8 x 10© Xan Blackburn 2012 I swear, I haven’t been completely idle all this time! Hope for Hounds Since the last entry, I’ve been working on the 2012 Hope for Hounds collar and tee-shirt design, which is a yearly fundraiser, and collaborative effort between myself, 2 … Read More “Petey: time for a new color”
Petey: Greyhound portrait in progress Petey got some long-awaited (and well-deserved) attention today. Let’s see where he’s at right now. Petey: work in progressAcrylic, 8″ x 10″© Xan Blackburn 2012 I know I’ve said this before, but I really enjoy this phase. There’s a dreamy quality to it, the suggestion of things not quite pinned … Read More “Petey: that watery phase”
Petey – Work in progressAcrylic on canvas panel, 8″ x 10″© Xan Blackburn 2012 Petey is a handsome young devil, isn’t he? Jumping right in, I took the reference photo, re-sized it, got as much information as possible out of it (luckily, most greyhounds have a lot in common, so I can use locally available … Read More “Petey’s portrait”
Cosmo5″ x 5″ acrylic on canvas©Xan Blackburn 2012 Fall Portrait Marathon, Cosmo Done. Cosmo’s portrait, and the Fall Portrait Marathon of 2011, both done. Cosmo’s portrait was based on a black and white photo, which has such power on its own that, given the option, I decided to stick with a monochromatic approach. I … Read More “FPM Finale: Cosmo is Complete!”
Cosmo – work in progress #55″ x 5″ acrylic on canvas©Xan Blackburn 2012 Cosmo – work in progress #65″ x 5″ acrylic on canvas©Xan Blackburn 2012 Fall Portrait Marathon, Cosmo I managed to resurrect one of my tinier brushes, which sure helped with the little hair details. I’ve been working on building up that fur texture, … Read More “FPM #10: Cosmo, still black and white”
Cosmo – work in progress5″ x 5″ acrylic on canvas©Xan Blackburn 2012 Fall Portrait Marathon, Cosmo One more little update for today. You know what? It’s not as easy to “draw” with acrylic as it is to draw with a pencil, say. Anyway, it’s coming along! We’ll call this stage 2a. Have a nice Friday … Read More “FPM #10: Cosmo, leeeetle update”
