German Shepherd - Boreas

I finished up a commissioned pastel portrait of Boreas. He was a beautiful German Shepherd own by a very talented dog trainer. Thanksgiving was the anniversary of when he was brought home as a puppy and Lori wanted to have the portrait arrive to honor the time they shared together. Portraits like this are important to me as well. As a pet owner, I know how hard it is to say goodbye and it's an honor to give owners another way to keep the relationship close to their heart.

This portrait was created on Hannemuhle Velour paper, primarily using PanPastels to create texture and detail in the fur.

To learn more about Lori's work with dog training, please visit her website: http://puppy-wuppy.com/

Cane Corso

I just recently finished up a commissioned portrait of Tonka, a very handsome Cane Corso. Sadly, Tonka passed away and this was a memorial portrait. I could tell just from working on the portrait that Tonka was held a very special place in his family. I hope the portrait will help them remember the fond memories they shared and still let Tonka have a place in their home.

I primarily created this portrait with PanPastels, it's one of my favorite materials for working with pastels. It specifically works well with Velour paper and large backgrounds. I like using makeup sponges to drag the background across and also to blend the colors together. By far, the best quality of PanPastels is that it stays on that paper. I'm sure all pastel artists fearing the pastels dusting off the paper like snow. So I highly recommend them when using pastels.

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In personal news, I got a new mattress for our bed (the Serta ISeries Acclamation) and I'm hoping that it will help with my neck and back problems. I know it's odd to be excited over a new mattress, but as a person that's been living with chronic pain that sometimes makes me put a halt on doing the thing I love the most, I'm very excited about it. Remember fellow artists, listen to your body when it's in pain and take some time to stretch! So far so good with the new mattress, but it's only been one night. Can you tell I'm really hoping that this is the solution besides having my chiropractor on speed dial?

My "Mug Shots" entry for Canine Art Guild

The theme was "Mug Shots", it seems simple enough, but it left me stumped. What makes you remember a dogs face? I was considering drawing my own dogs, they certainly are my muses. Especially since they're always around when I'm working. If I'm having a hard time drawing a particular feature on a dog, they also work well as live models. However, I know I need to branch out and draw more breeds. So, I started thinking of breeds that lasting memories when I see them in public.

I started thinking about the two Pekingese dogs that must live somewhere near my house. I usually see them when I'm driving in my car and I must look silly when I slow down to pass them. They're little feet are barely visible under all the fur, they almost look like they're defying gravity as they move over the sidewalk. You can barely see their faces as well, the only thing really visible feature from my car is their little pink tongues hanging in the air. Simply put, seeing them always makes me smile and makes me happy to see my dogs when I come home.


So here is my entry, "This Is My Happy Face". I just loved this little guys expression. 11"x14" Pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord

Getting Back

So it's been a while. I would like to apologize for the long break. I had a neck injury from an accident and was in bad shape. There wasn't much that I could do that didn't result in pain. So under doctors orders, I need to take a break so I could get back in shape. Now I'm slowly getting back into things.

I do have many things to blog about! I won Best in Show in very tough international art competition! I also have been selling prints of my work and portions of the proceeds went to various organizations. So I have many things to be grateful for while I was going through this ordeal. The one thing I've learned is true, I'm even more grateful for my work. Even though I can't sit at the drafting table for a long periods of time, it's become even more rewarding for me now.

One thing that happened recently that I would share with everyone, I had the opportunity to meet one of my idols, Denis Leary! I have always loved his comedy and his spirit. I'm a fan of Rescue Me and The Ref is one of my favorite movies. Mostly, I love the support he has given to NYC Firefighters. So when I heard that he was going to be at a book signing promoting his new Book, I knew I had to be there!

I decided to take it a step further and I wanted to give him something, however I only had a day to do it (I heard about the book signing the day before). I knew he has a huge love for Irish Wolfhounds. At one point, he had five of them. Clancy, is the one that most of his fans know about. He was even on Rescue Me and featured in his Roast. Sadly, Clancy passed away while he was writing his last book. So I decided to draw a portrait of an Irish Wolfhound and hope that the coloring would be close to Clancy. There was a small picture on his website, but the footage from his Roast was very helpful. So I after 8 hours I was able to finish it and frame it. Thankfully, I had time to scan it too.



To say I was nervous is a huge understatement. I also was wearing heavy layers because I assumed we were going to be waiting outside (we live in NJ near NYC, it's very cold right now). We ended up being inside, so I was overheating. So being very hot and nervous wasn't a good combination for me! I was very happy that I didn't faint or do something that would have mortified me when I got the front of the line. When I got to meet him, I think I said something along the lines of "Hi Mr. Leary, I know how much you like Irish Wolfhounds, so I made this for you. I tried to find a picture of Clancy so I could get the coloring close to his." He said, "Oh Wow! Do I get to keep it? It looks very close to Clancy!" So hopefully he like it and wasn't just being nice to later put my work in the creepy stalker gift pile.

Anyway, he pose for a picture with us (that's my handsome hubby Marc, he's also a really big fan of his). I honestly could have cried I was so happy! It was a great day! (Told you I was overheating, look how pink our cheeks are in the picture!)

Intermission...

While I'm working on some new art, I thought I would post a video for your entertainment.

Here's one of my favorite videos, it's of my Mom and Dad's cat Valerie. I love this cat so much! She's a very sweet!

Here is a portrait I did of Valerie. It's also one of my favorites. It was one of my first pet portraits and I gave it to my Dad for Father's Day. I know I've changed my techniques since this portrait, but there's just something that I like about this one. I have the tendency to be a bit critical when I look at my older work, by this one gives me warm fuzzy feelings. Probably because I have such a soft spot for Valerie. Her little nickname is "Moo Moo." When she was a kitten she would walk around the house saying "Moo Moo!" it was just too precious! I think I should dig up her kitten pictures!

Mr. Fancypants' Portrait (with a tutorial)

Yes, that's his name and I love it! He's called "Pants" for short. This commissioned piece is being given as a gift. I love top secret portraits It's so much fun to have everything be a surprise!

I figured this would be a nice entry to talk about the materials I use and some of my techniques.

Mr. Fancypants' portrait was created on Hannemuhle Velour paper. It's a wonderful archival and acid free paper. There are some issues with using velour paper, but I have some tips. With velour paper, erasing is out of the question. It's best to layout the drawing with a light layer of pastels and continue building the drawing. It's also possible to draw a sketch and then transfer the drawing onto the velour with carbon paper. Paint pigments also like to "dust off" velour paper. I don't like using fixative with my pastel pieces. I know this is a big debate among artists, but I'm not a big fan of fixative for pastels. To get around using fixative I use a brand of pastels called PanPastels for very large areas. This brand binds to paper very well, I highly recommend it.

Here are some progression photos of Mr. Fancypants' portrait. This tutorial is mostly going to show how I create detail in fur. Later, I will have a tutorial on eyes since it's such an important part of any portrait. I took these photos while my work was on the drafting table.

(Please click photos for a larger view.) At this stage, I've blocked the major areas with the PanPastels. I'm preparing to go into the areas where I know that fine detail will be important. I know the frame will be black and white, so I'm keeping those colors in mind while I'm working. The velour paper allows me to layer colors together. I know I want the background to have brown, grey and black shaded together.

At this stage I went back in with more brown colors in the background with the PanPastels. Then I started to go into the fine detail areas with Derwent pastel pencils. It's important to have sharp points on the pencils during this process. I like to use sandpaper to keep them sharp. I never use a pencil sharpener because the pencils are very fragile. It's important to pay attention to the direction of the fur while adding in the fine detail. I used Burnt Umber 54F, Brown Ochre 57 B, Sepia 53 F, Sepia 53 D, French Grey 70 D and French Grey 70H.

At this point, I know the final stages are near. I added in the color into the cheeks for the whiskers. I built up the background some more. I blended in some of the detail with a paper stump. I built up some of the color in the chest. In the final stages, I add shading in the inner ear, along with fur. Then I add in the whiskers with Chinese White 72 B and Ivory Black 67 B pastel pencils.

Hope this all was informative! This was my very first tutorial! Please feel free to leave comments or questions!