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 …

Meanwhile …

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 …

People in my Pet Portraits

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 …

Silken Windhound Portrait, Hunter, is … Done! (Probably)

Hunter, silken windhound portrait
Tangaloor Malden, CGC “Hunter”11″ x 14″ acrylic and graphite on Gessobord©Xan Blackburn, 2011 A lot of careful work went into refining the silky hairs swirling around the ear and down the neck, bringing them in and out of shadows, giving them dimension, giving them some color, making them finer. Much more shadow was needed along …

Back to Bados, and Beyond!

Bados, the BadAss Puppy©Xan Blackburn, 2011 Let’s take another look at Bados. I’ve re-done the background pretty much entirely, removing the hills and sky, which seemed distracting, a separate thing going on in Bados’ painting.  I’ve been sitting with this state for a couple days, and I’m now sure I’m done with it.  I’ll be …

Bados was NOT done. He’s STILL not done!

I am trying to move on to the next painting (follow along, now!), but Bados, it turns out, is a star.  A star needs to shine alone for full effect.  That is, the hills and sky had to go (see that last stage here). Now, you might think that’s easy.  Just paint green over them …

Bados: done?

I think I’ve reached the sleep-on-it phase of Bados’ portrait.  (Looking again, tilting my head, going back and adding some more greens to the shadow area at his feet …)Yeah. I’m going to eat my leftover pizza (from Pizza Pi in Seattle – oh, people!  YUM!), by which time it should be dry enough to …

Bados coming clearer

Bados; a work in progress©Xan Blackburn, 2011 My silken windhound friends correctly identified Bados in the hazy earliest stages I showed you in my last post.  I only had a little time to paint yesterday (had to drive to Seattle airport to pick up my hubby after a week-long business trip — Yeay!), but I’m …