NWFest: outdoor fun with dogs

NWFest was a kick. My booth, all set up at NWFest 2011 We managed to find a great young lady to petsit who I’m not going to tell you any more about in case you all swarm her with requests, and I can never get her again!  Suffice it to say, everyone loved her, and …

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 …

Hunter gets a name! Silken Windhound #3 portrait update

Work in Progress, “Hunter”silken windhoundGraphite, acrylic, on gessobord, 11″x 14″©Xan Blackburn, 2011 HUNTER!  Yes, his name is Hunter.  Christina of New York’s Hunter.  The cats are yelling at me for their dinner, so I’ll be brief.  Here’s where we are today, with a fair amount to go.  As you can see, I spent a lot …

Silken portrait #3, Stage 2

Man, I really hope someone guesses who this is, soon!  My titles are going to start looking like a math lesson! Work in Progressmixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11″ x 14″©Xan Blackburn, 2011 Today started with some corrections, and some timidity.  I got a used Galaxy Tab recently (I might have to give that …

Silken Windhound #3

And now for something completely different! Well, it’s still a silken windhound, but I’m working on this one really differently.  I figured I’d better write this down before I forgot what I did, and what my original thought is, so here goes. I wanted to combine a graphite drawing with acrylic.  My original concept is …

Mystery Silken gets a name, and …

First: Happy Canada Day, to my Canadian readers!  Being so close to the Canadian border for the last several years has been very educational.  I love listening to the CBC while I work, and today’s radio has been full of their nation’s anniversary, and the first royal visit of Will and Kate.  Right now is …

Mystery Silken in progress

Work in progresssilken windhound©Xan Blackburn, 2011 I’m bummed!  I thought I’d taken a scan of the painting on Friday, but I guess not.  Well, you’ll just have to look at it as it is now! The underpainting was pretty much set in Payne’s gray by Friday, so today I started in on the color in …

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 …