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Monday, February 17, 2014

Practice Makes Perfect

Practice Practice Practice

I'm not a musician but I was a dancer growing up
and if there's anything I know about, it's practice.
Painting is no different.  Many of my artists friends say you have to put miles on your brush.
So I will be practicing on these subjects for a while until I get comfortable.
That oughtta only take a year or two.  

If you've been following my blog recently you know I'm trying to improve my drawing
and learn to paint animals.

I have a lot of animals here on the farm and I want to get better at painting them.

I'm currently working on cats and dogs.

My cats and a dearly departed dog, Bailey.

My husband really misses him cause he was kind of a crazy lovable guy.

Today I watched several segments of an online pet painting class I've been taking,
and then had to pick up my brush.

I don't have a face frontal picture of Bailey,
so I'm using that as  my excuse as to why it is so hard. 
Also he's a black and white dog,
 but you know there's all kinds of colors hiding in the black and white.    

Another difficult feat.

This was when I thought I was finished.

But what happens a lot of times, is you take the picture
and then you see the problems.
I kept thinking he looked like a weasel instead of a dog.

Then I saw the problem with the nose.

So I had to make a "slight correction".

You can see I straightened out his nose a little bit.  When I did that I had to add a little more black to the middle.  I tweaked a little on the neck also.  
 It's hard to make yourself put your brush away.     

So, here is today's version of a "slightly corrected" Bailey.

I can't show you any more of him,
because that part of the painting is horrible,
but I'm fairly happy with this part.

Rest in peace friend Bailey.

4 comments:

  1. Good for you, drawing is such a great learning tool. I wish I lived closer and could photograph your sweet animals to paint. Have your hubby critique your dog when you're ready, I bet he can tell you when you nail him.

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  2. Thanks Barb. I did finally finish this last night to a place I'm happy with. This is a fun adventure. I can send you some photos or if you guys ever decide to camp in General Butler you can stop by. Thanks for stopping by today.

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  3. Aw Sharon - I think you were really able to portray that "good old doggy" look. I'm guessing Bailey had some years on him from your painting. This is a sweet tribute.

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  4. Thanks Terri. He was 13 when he laid down and didn't get up. Who doesn't want to go that way. He was an outside dog and never wanted in the house. When I was outside he never left my side and helped me get around when I was really sick several years ago. He was a gentle spirit who never jumped up on me or licked me.

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About Me

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Ghent, Kentucky, United States
I'm a nature artist and I love to paint old barns, rivers and lakes, trees and fence rows and flowers. I work almost daily. You can purchase paintings by contacting me at slgraves6@gmail.com and there is also a tab across the top of my blog for available paintings and one for small paintings with buy now buttons. You can also purchase through my Etsy shop using the name of Fine Nature Art. . Thank you so much for stopping by.