Long-haired Weimaraner oil portrait

10" x 8" oil on cradled board

Even in the normal way of things, dogs' lives are far too short. Sometimes however, even these years are cut far too prematurely, leaving an owner grieving when they should have been enjoying the prime of their dog's life. Sadly, this was the case for Parka's owner. 

Love your dogs, cuddle them and be glad for every day you have them. 

Anne

info@azpaintings.com

Dalmatian watercolour - Chloe

16" x 20" watercolour on Saunders Waterford NOT paper

Today's painting is a watercolour on my favourite paper. It's what I would describe as a good tempered paper, allowing a fair amount of scrubbing before complaining! As I've described before, the surface is neither rough nor smooth but as Goldilocks would say 'just right' - for me that is. NOT stands for not hot pressed and hot pressed means smooth. I would suggest that if you're new to watercolours and want to have your paintings framed, you should avoid using the lightest weight of paper unless your paintings are very small. I've seen countless paintings starting to wrinkle when framed because the paper wasn't substantial enough. I've described sometime ago in this blog about stretching watercolour paper and in my opinion, it's a vital step and something I do even with heavyweight papers. In this way I never have to worry about the amount of watery paint I apply to the surface and always know the paper will remain nice and taut. 

On to the painting now. Well I think you'd have to look far and wide to try and find a prettier face than this little girl. I think she's absolutely lovely... and I hope you do too!

Anne

info@azpaintings.com

Dachshund and mum oil painting on canvas

14" x 10" oil on canvas

This was such a lovely painting to work on. How lucky we are, those of us who own dogs. In them we find the virtues it can sometimes be so hard to find in our fellow man - loyalty, love and forgiveness. I could add more - empathy, bravery to start with. I wonder just how many attributes dogs do possess? If anyone can think of more, please do comment and I'll be happy to add them here. Using the word 'happy' made me think of another aspect of a dog's personality - optimism. I shall be very interested to see what else anyone can suggest. 

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this painting as much as I enjoyed painting it.

Anne

info@azpaintings.com

Weimaraner oil painting - Chase

Oil on cradled panel

Happily in this world there are some people who go out of their way to help others in need. Sometimes those who receive this assistance are human and sometimes animal. This painting came about as the result of an auction organised to help a weimaraner rescue and was donated, not by me, but by a lady called Jan Ort, who has given generously both financially and in terms of time, to a variety of charities. The owner of Chase, the weimaraner in the painting, made the winning bid and gave the finished painting to her husband for his birthday. Chase had gone to their family at 6 months of age and was dearly loved, sleeping with his head on his owner's shoulder. He sadly died at the age of 13 and is greatly missed. 

Anne

info@azpaintings.com

Watercolour Griffon Bruxellois - Fern

16" x 20" watercolour on Saunders Waterford NOT paper

I'm sharing a watercolour today and this little girl is a rather less common breed. She is a Griffon Bruxellois and her name is Champion Cilleine Another Day or as she is known at home, Fern. Griffons are energetic dogs with a lot of character packed into their little bodies. Their face shape has led to them having the nickname of little monkeys which I think suits their personalities as well!

Anne

info@azpaintings.com

Watercolour Cocker Spaniel Painting

Watercolour painting on Saunders Waterford NOT paper

This week's painting is a watercolour for a change. 

To get the depth of colour needed for a painting such as this, it's necessary to paint in many layers when you're painting in watercolours. One of the issues you might encounter is the lifting of layers when you're trying to add them! Another potential hazard is that your painting can look overworked and dull so I always advise that a light hand should be used, dropping colour in but not pushing it around. It's also important to have a paper which while being absorbent, isn't overly so. 

If you have any questions, please post them here or email me at: info@azpaintings.com

Anne

Weimaraner puppy oil painting

8" x 10" oil on artists cradled board

A small oil painting today of a weimaraner puppy. 

The painting was commissioned by someone for their friend who sadly lost this little girl at a very young age. It's always upsetting when starting on a painting of a deceased pet and even more so when they have been lost at an age when they should have their whole life in front of them. I hope though that this painting will in a small way, bring her back for her owner.

Anne

info@azpaintings.com

Whippet oil painting

14" x 10" oil on canvas

A painting which is a little different to the usual portrait. I really like the way this oil painting has turned out even though the whippet's brindle colouring was a challenge and was very hard work! I hope you all think that work was worthwhile. 😊

Anne
info@azpaintings.com

Dalmatian oil portrait - Ziggy

12" x 16" oil on canvas

This evening's painting is another lovely Dalmatian. This gorgeous boy lived a very long and much loved happy life. There is not much more we can hope for our dogs.


Anne
info@azpaintings.com

Watercolour Dalmatian portrait (Peanut)

16" x 20" watercolour on Saunders Waterford NOT

Well I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year and in fact is still having a good new year! I started 2016 with a sickly computer and a sickly me. Neither of us was seriously ill but it did make posting too difficult to struggle with. However, we are now both back and fully fit!

I'm hoping to get back to posting regularly now and if you have any comments or there is anything you'd like to see or have discussed,  please let me know.

As I say under the painting, this lovely Dalmatian was painted on Saunders Waterford NOT. For those of you new to this blog and not familiar with watercolour papers, you might wonder what NOT stands for. It actually means NOT hot pressed. Hot pressed watercolour paper is very smooth as opposed to rough watercolour paper which is.... yes, you guessed it, rough. NOT fits in between the two. I use Saunders Waterford as I find it a forgiving paper, meaning that it is possible to be relatively rough with it. I always suggest to people new to watercolours, that they pop along to their local art shop and buy a selection of different papers to see which they like best and which suits their style of painting best. I find Saunders Waterford paper to be like Baby Bear's porridge in Goldilocks and The Three Bears, that is, just right! 

Anne

Standard Long Haired Dachshund

20" x 16" watercolour - Aus Ch Laurieton His Masters Voice

Today's post is of a very handsome standard long haired dachshund. Not only a gorgeous looking dog but also one in stunning condition and looking so healthy. A real pleasure to paint! For those who are wondering what Aus Ch means, it is Australian Champion.

At the moment I'm wondering whether I should migrate this blog over to Wordpress and wonder if anyone has any views on this? I'm also unhappy with Feedblitz which sends this post by email to subscribers. I'm unhappy with it because of all the advertising plastered over the email but I'm not sure if there is a good alternative. I suppose I should research more but there are only so many hours in the day and at the moment most of them are taken up with painting. Talking of which, I must get back to it now!

Thanks for looking!

Anne

info@azpaintings.com

Dalmatian oil painting - Tia

20" x 16" oil on canvas

As regular readers will know, I haven't got my blog postings properly organised yet, but I'm getting there!

Meanwhile, another Dalmatian for you. A sad story as this young girl, so full of life and living, was diagnosed as suffering from leukaemia and her life ended at the very premature age of 6. She is still greatly missed by her owner. RIP sweetheart. 

Dalmatian portrait - Enzo (oil painting)

Dalmatian - Enzo. Oil on 7" x 7" MDF board

This evening's posting is of a recently painted portrait - I still have some pre-Christmas paintings to post and am endeavouring to get myself organised sufficiently to be able to put them here on my blog. Never give up! 

At this time of year there never seem enough hours in the day. There are always dogs to be walked but now the garden is crying out to be attended to with so much to do and of course paintings to work on. I had planned some spring cleaning but that has had to be put on hold - not something I am sorry about! 

Anne

Poodle pet portrait

Poodle portrait - 7" x 7" oil on MDF panel

This painting was finished shortly after Christmas. The person commissioning the portrait had hoped to have it in time for a Christmas gift but I explained that this wouldn't be possible and so they decided that they would go ahead anyway.

It is always unpleasant having to disappoint people but this happens every year as, I suppose understandably, the general public don't fully realise the time it takes to paint portraits and many leave it too late.

The moral of the story - get your Christmas portraits booked in plenty of time!

Anne

Rottweiler dog portrait in oils

Baloo - 10" x 8" oil on linen

There never seem to be enough hours in the day to paint, walk the dogs, cuddle the dogs and cope with all the normal hundred and one (or in my case one hundred and one!) things of normal day to day living. Some items get left and in my case, keeping my blog up to date has been suffering. 

Today's painting is a recently completed oil of a lovely sweet rottweiler who I have had the honour of bringing back for his owners. 

If you would like to commission a painting please email me at info@azpaintings.com. Please bear in mind that there is a waiting list but if you have a specific date you require the painting for or there is some other urgency about its completion, do ask as I can often move things around to accommodate such requests.

Anne

Golden Retriever Oil Painting (and another apology!)

14" x 10" oil on linen canvas - Golden Retriever Elliot

Once again I must apologise for the dearth of blog posts - I can only say that I am simply so busy painting that everything else has been taking a back seat. I can can tell you though that things are planned to be somewhat more organised in the New Year and I am thinking of publishing a newsletter - perhaps bi-monthly. 

However, for now here is a recent commission of a gorgeous golden retriever which I hope you enjoy. 

Don't forget I am only an email address away if you want to ask me anything or chat - although expect fairly brief responses pre-Christmas!! 

Anne

PS I am fully booked for this Christmas - sorry to those who've been disappointed 

Liver spotted Dalmatian pet portrait commission

12" x 16" oil on linen stretched canvas

Here is my most recent commission - not a particularly easy one as the photographic reference wasn't very good as the main photo of his head was very small indeed. In fact this painting is made up of two photographs as the owner particularly wanted this expression - being typical of him - but the photo only went half way down his chest. Fortunately she had another photo of him in almost the same pose - with his head in a different position - so it wasn't too difficult although the way the spots change shape according to slight changes of position in the dog have to be seen to be believed! 

This was also a very difficult painting to photograph accurately and I'm going to have to check it today for accuracy. Then rush, rush, rush, carry on with the next commission!

If you'd like to contact me my email address is info@azpaintings.com.

Saluki watercolour commission

16" x 20" watercolour saluki on Saunders Waterford paper

I thought readers might like to see a WIP of this painting, so I am showing it below.

I hope you find it interesting!

Anne

Dalmatian oil commission - Harley

Harley - 10' x 8" oil on hardboard/masonite

Another liver spotted Dalmatian today but this time in oils.

Cocker Spaniel - wip#2

Watercolour Cocker Spaniel Commission - Work In Progress #2

Here is the painting quite a bit further on. You can see that a lot of detail has been added to the body and head of the dog although the legs still need a lot of work and of coure it does need more work all over. I'm not sure how easy you'll be able to see that the sky has already been painted, but it has - it was the very first thing painted in. The grass will be the last area painted.

While I'm mentioning the sky, I'd like to stress the importance of taking it right up to the edge of the drawing and even overlap a little as there is nothing worse (well there is of course!) than seeing a blank area of white against the outline of the dog. If you try and fill it in it will usually dry with hard edges and look glaringly obvious. With detailed watercolours, you do need to have to think ahead more than is necessary in oils.

I will post the finished painting soon, although I can't promise it will be tomorrow - time will tell!