Al's Pals

I was recently commissioned to do a portrait by a woman who wanted a Christmas gift for her father.  He loves to sit in his chair with his favortie buddies, Lucy and Duncan.  This painting was done using two pictures of Al, two of Duncan and one of Lucy.  I have included them so you can see how I put them together to form a portrait.

Labrador Puppy Portrait

This cute chocolate lab puppy was playing in the grass just long enough to get his picture taken before he pounced off.    Actually, this painting was from a black lab, but I made him a chocolate lab.  This is an 8x10 painted for Labradors of the South auction on December 12 in Atlanta, GA. 

Dog days

Pictured here are the beloved dogs of the same owner of my previous commissioned portrait, Jenny of www.labradorfriends.com.  Pictured here are Sam on the chair, Harley the Black Poodle and TJ.  I took three separate photos and posed them here as if they were wanting their picture taken.   This was painted on an 18x18 canvas with acrylic. 

Five Labs

It's finished!  Here is a portrait that I was commissioned to do.  The owner, Jenny, asked for me to do her five labs.  Tazzie was the mother hen, but had passed away.  She asked that she looked like an angel in the picture.  Fred is the oldest on the left, then Homer, Jake and Cloe.  Jenny has asked me to do another portrait with three more of her beloved pets.  I will post that shortly as well.  

Here is what Jenny had to say about this portrait. 

"It's amazing.  You made me tear up looking at it."  - Jenny

Fred is Ready

In the process of doing a painting of five chocolate labs for Jenny at Labrador Friends.  You can find them at www.labradorfriends.com.  Here you can see their oldest friend, Fred.  Hopefully, within the next couple of days you can see Tazzie, the angel, Jake, Homer, and Cloe.

We have a Winner

Jerry Morris of On Time Photos won the free 8x10 if their Golden princess.  A drawing was made October 21 from entries taken at Camp Bow Wow Alpharetta.  Check out Jerry's work at www.ontimephotos.com.

Doggie Day Care Grand Opening

On Saturday, September 19th, from 10 am to 3 pm, Camp Bow Wow will be celebrating their Grand Opening doggy day and overnight camp.  Come join the fun with festivities, food and fun.  

I was commissioned to do a portrait for Camp Bow Wow featuring the owners beloved pets, Josie, Scout, Riley, Milo, Emma, and Rufus.   Jeanette Harris, owner of Camp Bow Wow  told me each one of their personalities and visioned a whimsical portrait.  My portrait will be hanging in the lobby of Camp Bow Wow.  All commissioned portraits referred by Camp Bow Wow  will offer a percentage of the proceeds to Camp Bow Wow.   Those attending the Grand Opening and order a commissioned portrait will get 20% off of their portrait.  

Learn to Draw Instantly

I had two new students, G and Madolyn, yesterday who had a chance to learn the techniques I teach to vastly improve anyone's drawing skills.  You will see pictured here their subject, their first attempt and then their drawing after one session with me using my secret techniques.   

Here is what they had to say to their Facebook friends:  "On the assurance of Susan Blanton (art-teacher guru), that she could teach anyone... ANYone to draw & draw *well* in one sitting, G 'n I decided to take her up the challenge. Were we skeptical? You better believe it! ... Judge the results for yourself.''

Troy and Crystal Portrait

I just did a portait of my children and our little Border Collie, Molly.   I took a snapshot and made it into a more portrait setting by bringing everyone together more closely and cleaned up any flaws, using a different picture for Molly's eyes since the photo I used did not show her eyes very well.  I didn't want the distracting background so I chose a green background.  I didn't like Crystal's green/gray shirt and chose a deeper greenish blue to pull out the color in her eyes.  I was not going to worry with pin stripes on my son's shirt and in his position, it was too scrunched up, so made it solid and straightened his collar.   

Another Student

My daughter, Crystal,  is 13 years old and has never shown an interest in drawing before.  She came to me wanting to learn to draw something, so I asked her what she would like to draw.  She didn't know, so we looked at some books and she chose a tiger.  I told her to make an attempt by herself.  Her first attempt is on the upper left.  

After sitting down with me for a couple of hours and following my step-by-step process, she produced the picture on the upper right!  It was wonderful!  I am so proud of her!

Finished Madeline and Buddy

I really enjoyed doing this portrait and looking forward to doing more of pets WITH their owners!   The best part is when someone sees the painting for the first time.  

This painting was done on an 8 x 10 Archival 100% cotton canvas panel.  I love these because they are much thinner than the 1/2 in thick canvases and you can use conventional, more inexpensive frames if necessary.  

Work in Progress

I was recently given a picture to paint a portrait of a little girl and her dog, Buddy.   To begin, I block out the main color scheme and placement and then I start on detail.  Currently I have worked on the face of Madeline.  I have not started with the detail on Buddy or Madeline's hair or eyes yet.  Before I am finished, I will finalize her face as well.  I never like this part, really.  However, I  know that eventually I will capture the look I am trying to achieve.  To be continued....

Painting of Golden for Gala Event

I was recently asked to donate a painting to put up for auction for an upcoming fundraising event for AdoptaGoldenAtlanta.com.  Adopt a Golden Atlanta is a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding loving permanent homes for Golden Retrievers in order to reduce the likelihood of them becoming strays or adding to the shelter overpopulation.  Their fund raising event is on February 21st at 6 pm at the Cobb Galleria Performing Arts Center.  Please check out their website for more information.   Here is the picture I have chosen to paint.  I may do another if I can get one done by the 21st.  Sorry it has been awhile since I posted, but this has kept me busy. 

Chihuahua - $175 plus shipping

This little guy was so cute.  The eyes and the shy expression just melted me. 

If you are interested in purchasing, please email me at suzerb@comcast.net and I will contact you within 24 hours. 

Golden Retriever - $175 plus shipping

I painted this picture with a different back ground and then went back and painted a new one.   I have many friends who love Golden Retrievers.  I wanted to do one just for fun.   If you are interested in purchasing, please email me at suzerb@comcast.net. Put in the subject line "purchase inquiry".  I will contact you within 24 hours.

Fish Portrait - ha ha jk

This picture was painted for a dear friend of mine who was my neighbor when we lived in Florida. She loves to snorkel and likes fish pictures.  I found this picture in a calendar and was moved to paint it for her.  The picture isn't great, but as you can see the top is the calendar.  I was trying to hold it straight and my painting of it is the picture below.  

First Pet Portrait Drawing

This was my first commissioned portrait.  The photograph made the background too dark so the background is much lighter than what it appears.  This sold for $400 and was 24 x 36.  To achieve the personalities of the painting, I requested several pictures of each pet.  I then discussed the personality of each pet to choose the best picture.  This was a portrait of pets my client had over the past 30 years.  I asked which pets lived at the same time and how they interacted.  They also expressed their favorites be made larger.    The top two dogs where like mother and daughter, the top shepherd was a show dog.  The left, main horse was their favorite and quite tame but alert. Their favorite dog was a hunting dog and very intense.  The two shepherds below were like husband and wife.  The wife being very regal and the husband being always the silly, playful one. The white horse was very energetic and lively.  My client was very pleased.  He lived in Florida so we made an extra trip to deliver it in person when we visited our friends there. 

Thoughtful Pug - $175 plus shipping

My parents love their pug named Tuesday.  Pugs are so full of expression and personality.  I saw this picture and was moved to paint it.   

It is an acrylic painting on an 8 x 10  Archival 100% cotton canvas panel.  A panel is a thin board rather than the traditional 1/2 thick canvas.  It can be put in a traditional frame.  If you are interested in purchasing, please email me at suzerb@comcast.net Put in the subject line "purchase inquiry".  I will contact you within 24 hours.  

Work in Progress

I started this last night and will hopefully have it finished today.  I start out with the background and then with the white outline and white markings.  Then I went to the darkest areas and blocked them in.  I go back and forth with darker to lighter.  After I have all the colors coming together and blended, I start working on the detail in the eyes, nose, and hair.  I love to work on detail.  It's at that point you really start to see the character of the subject start to come to life!