Well my dear hubby has been busy while I have been under the weather and the project that I mentioned in my last post is now up and running, and I am looking for new dog rescue groups to partner with in the near future (never enough hours in the day and the kids are on holidays at the moment).

The new project is  an ongoing series of Dog Paintings in various styles and media and can be viewed at http://dogpaintings.com.au, which I hope in time will be a daily dog painting blog - time constraints and commissions before Christmas (added to me not being 100% well) means that it is unlikely (LOL ok highly improbable) that I will paint daily, so I am aiming at finishing one of these small paintings every day that I do paint.  A percentage of the sale of these small artworks will be donated to dog rescue groups, at the moment this includes the Animal Protection Society and K9 Rescue.

After the flooding and house re-arranging that resulted in a studio clean out, I have gone through my art folders and have listed some artwork from my personal collection that has not been offered for sale previously.  You can see all of the artwork currently available in the Dog Paintings ART FOR SALE.

I’ve also entered three of my dog portraits in the Canine Art Guild’s Helping Paws online Exhibition which featrues an international collection of artists who have partnered with local animal shelters and rescues and have pledged a percentage of sales from this exhibition to support of animal welfare efforts.

In addition, visitors to the online exhibition can vote for their favorite artwork and three People’s Choice honours will be awarded, with cash donations being made to the shelters affiliated with the artworks receiving the most votes for People’s Choice awards so please visit the “Helping Paws” Exhibition and vote for your favourite.

These are the three pieces that I have entered into the exhibition:

“Peaches & Cream”, Pomeranean in Pastels

“Angel in Blue” American Staffordshire Bull Terrier painting in oils

“Noble” German Shepherd Dog, painting in charcoal

"Noble" German Shepherd Dog in charcoal by Michelle Wrighton

All three of these dog paintings are available for sale at http://dogpaintings.com.au with 10% being donated to the Animal Protection Society and K9 Rescue.  If you like any of these three paintings, I would appreciate you vote in the Peoples Choice awards to help my selected Rescue Groups!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Michelle

http://dogpaintings.com.au

I don’t think I am unique, and I guess most people know what its like when work, family commitments, ongoing illness/health issues and life in general take over and seem to rule your world and there never seems enough time or physical and mental energy to do all that needs doing, let alone follow dreams and achieve things that are little more than wispy glimpses of what can be.

I have had a particular art project planned since I first started blogging way back in 2006 - actually its just one of many projects that have been put on hold indefinitely in recent years, but this one I keep going back to, seeing how the idea could be adjusted to fit into a schedule that I could manage and trying to implement parts of it without any great success, primarily I think because I need to approach the project holistically in order to achieve what I want to achieve.

Although I feel like I am running flat out without achieving any forward movement lately, I have also felt that a shift is taking place that will finally allow me to make the progress in the directions I want to take, so I have tried to accept the limited progress that I appear to be making, believing that this shift will occur (even if its not as quick as I would like!).

Then all of a sudden, boom! The negative thoughts and second guessing come in and I wonder why I have wasted so much mental energy on things that I just can’t seem to make happen, no matter how much I try and I feel that I might as well just give up on some ideas that have long held importance. I got to that point today.

Strangely enough, if I had read Robert Genns newsletter that I received yesterday, I wouldn’t have got to that point today. And yet it would not have had such an impact on me if I had read it yesterday. Strangely enough, being pushed for time, tired and trying to clear my inbox I was going to simply delete the newsletter without reading anyway.

I did however open another email form an artist group I belong to and what did I find but the very same Robert Genns newsletter for September 2, 2008 “Working your muses.”

Robert writes “The first thing you have to do is separate your true muses from your false muses. Your true muses are those that turn you on, interest you, excite you and motivate you to explore further. Both true and false muses are generated in early childhood, and sorting them out can save a lot of trouble in later art and life. Fact is, we’re often pretty true to ourselves until our teenage years. That’s when derailment happens–jobs, obligations, family and social pressures, love interests…

…Artists often find themselves trying to sort things out in middle life. These folks need to go back to their earliest dreams. By recalling the places and occurrences of childhood, they can bring up and clarify both positive and negative muses. You need to go with the positive ones–the ones that give good feelings. There are such an abundance of positive ones….

…Identifying your early positive muses gives keys to life’s direction–at least to paths worth checking out….

…Artists who dig up true muses need to connect them to exploratory work. Without this step muses stay dreams forever. The works themselves need only be seen as assays. They become a continuing evaluation of the nature of the given muse. Some are infinite in complexity and may require many lifetimes. Here lies the miracle of making art. Connected to the part of you that is true is the key to an eternity of somewhat pleasant frustration, occasional quality and joyous satisfaction. Not a bad job when you think of it…”

I take it that one way or another I was meant to read Roberts message, and boy was it relevant! So I will keep following my muse, even if I can only spend 5 or 10 minutes a week developing the project to the point that it comes to fruition, I know that my muse can and should be pursued for this one.

I’m not sure that the thoughts and ramblings of this very tired artist are even coherent tonight, and I do apologize for that, but I would like to thank Robert for yesterday’s newsletter and share the link to the full article inRobert’s twice weekly newsletter so that other artists can subscribe to his words of wisdom;)

Oh, and about my project? I’ll mention more when it is closer to being ready, subscribe to my “Paws in The Paint” email newsletter to receive the announcement!

Where has August gone?  We have all been ill with quite a nasty flu virus for the last three weeks, and I was truly shocked yesterday to find its the last week of August already!  After just getting over the complications with my dogs surgery, then the upheaval of the storm damage and repairs, and then tending sick kids (and hubby) and being sick myself, I am at least three months behind where I had planned to be by this time of year and havn’t finished commissions that I had planned to have wrapped up by the end of this month.

On top of that, I have carpal tunnel really bad in my right hand which is affecting my ability to use colour pencils for any length of time, so once the last couple are finished I will need to take a break from colour pencil work for a while.

LOL OK thats enough, whine over!

I am playing catch-up with emails today and tomorrow, so if you have sent me an email and I havn’t replied I will be doing so over the next day or so, then I will be a little scarse while I catch up on the commissions and some other business that I need to complete as soon as possible.

Once I have those things back under control, I will be able to list some original art for sale, including some Art Cards and ACEO’s for those who collect them.  For those that have not heard of ACEO’s, I have written and article that explains these tiny treasures of the art world!

I have also added (well technically my hubby added;) a newsletter subscription to the website called “Paws in the Paint” for visitors and collectors who would like to receive email notification for advance notification of special offers, events, member only competitions and be the first to see newly completed artwork and paintings for sale before they are listed on the website.

All you need to do is enter your email address into the newsletter subscription box on the right hand side of your screen. You will receive an email that contains a link to validate your email address - this ensures that the email address you entered is correct, and also prevents anyone else from signing you up for the newsletter without your consent.

Your email address is kept strictly confidential and will not be used for any purpose other than newsletter notifications, and you may unsubscribe yourself at any time.

You can of course subscribe to my blog feed (bottom of menu at right) if you prefer to just be notified when my blog is updated.

To celebrate the birth of “Paws in the Paint” everyone who subscribes to the newsletter before 1st November will go into the running to win a free laminated art print featuring winner’s choice of my artwork or photography from RedBubble!

Oh, and don’t forget to vote for your favourite breeds that you would like to see me paint in the poll below, the Border Collies are out in front at the moment, but it will be interesting to see the most popular breeds by the time I have caught up with my work and can continue with the Best of Breed series.

Michelle

]]> http://michellewrighton.com/2008/08/paws-in-the-paint-win-a-print-update/feed/ http://michellewrighton.com/2008/07/poll-which-dog-breed-would-you-like-to-see-me-paint-next/ http://michellewrighton.com/2008/07/poll-which-dog-breed-would-you-like-to-see-me-paint-next/#comments Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:02:47 +0000 Michelle http://michellewrighton.com/?p=242 Although I have a number of pieces on the go at the moment, as an artist I am always looking for ideas and inspiration and take a lot of photos for future reference. I have some wonderful reference photos to choose from the following breeds, so I have decided to find out what breeds of dogs are popular with my visitors and have created a poll for you to tell me which dog breed you would like to see me paint or draw next.

Please vote for your favourite breed or breeds (up to five) from the poll below, which also appears on the right hand column of my blog.

I created the ACEO in colour pencils, and this new larger portrait has been done in traditional oils on prepared mdf, to the size of 9″x12″.  The painting is finished, but I won’t be adding it to the FIne Art Gallery until I have varnished it which will get rid of the gloss shine from the dried liquin that you can see in the left corner around my signature.

ACEO Gibbon 2.5"x3.5"

Gibbon in Oils 9"x12"

GIBBON INFORMATION

There are fifteen living species of Gibbon - I believe this one is a White-Handed or Lar Gibbon (Hylobates lar) and as there are many colour variants in the species their subspecies identification is often unreliable unless the provenience of the animal is known.

GIbbons are small tree-dwelling primates whose original natural habitat is the tropical and subtropical rainforests of South, Southeast and East Asia.  Gibbons are yet another endangered animal - some of the 15 species of Gibbon are at the brink of extinction, and are currently only found in small populations in Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Bandladesh, NE India and Myanmar.

The primary reason for the endangered status of GIbbons is the loss of their forest habitat which is being destroyed at the horrific rate of 32 acres per minute.  Unfortuantely, factors such as illegal wildlife trade, poaching and the use of their body parts in the manufacture of traditional medicine have also contributed to the demise of these beautiful creatures.

Gibbons are incredible acrobats and can swing up to 50 ft between trees at speeds up to 35mph, as well as having the dexterity to walk upright on the ground! They are one of the few monogamous primates, living in nuclear families consisting of the mated pair and their dependent offspring living in a family territory that they defend by vigorous vocal and visual displays.  Gibbons are often referred to as the ’songbirds’ of the primate family and they can project their voices up to 2 miles through the rainforest canopy.  The vocal displays of these musical land mammals usually consist of a duet between the mated pair, sometimes with accompaniement from their offspring.

If you would like to help with the plight of the critically endangered Silvery Gibbon, please visit The Silvery Gibbon Project to donate, purchase merchandise or become a member of this conservation organization which is a registered environmental organisation based in Perth, Western Australia.

Sorry about the flash glare on this one, oil paintings are proving as difficult to photograph as graphite!

There is still a fair bit of work to do to get Precious and her patent collar looking perfect, but I won’t be able to work on this until I get a couple of commissions wrapped up.

Charcoal on drafting film approx 9″x12″ image size.

Let me know what you think so far!

I am looking for more German Shepherd models for my “Best of Breed Series”, so if you are owned by one or more of these beautiful creatures, there is some additional information   here.

After painting for the last few pieces, I wanted to get my hand back into drawing mode so I started this Rhodesian Ridgeback as a quick experiment see how graphite works on drafting film.  Drafting film is my favourite support for colour pencil work, but I have never tried it for graphite until now (very few artists use it, although I have found one artist who has been using it as a support for thirty odd years).

Photographing it proved very difficult, but I have finally managed to get a semi-reasonable digital image of this one by scanning it, it is still a work in progress, so not yet completed. Film is a really nice surface to work on, and it is more like painting in graphite and charcoal than drawing that is both good and bad, good because it allows very soft transitions of tone, bad because it is easy to lift off and smudge.

I normally only use charcoal for getting my darkest darks in my graphite work, but I found myself leaning more and more towards the charcoal with this one, and whats more, really enjoying ‘painting’ with it using a variety of tools such as chamois, tissue, cotton buds (q-tips), a watercolour brush and a make-up sponge.

Probably the best thing about drafting film though, is the ability to put a different colour paper behind the drawing.  I used a cream parchment paper, and although it dosn’t show properly in the scan (think marbled/mottled cream rather than solid), the effect it gives in real life is really interesting, and something I am looking forward to experimenting a bit more with.

The reference photo was one of my own, and the drawing is approximately A4 in size and when it is finished I will probably offer prints of it at RedBubble.

The first image shows the drawing with the cream backing:

The second image shows the drawing with a white background:

I’d love to know your opinion on my experiment, and if you use drafting film for graphite and charcoal work, or would like a charcoal pet portrait of your own Rhodesian Ridgeback, I’d love to chat;)

The front page is linking to the correct pages now, navigation buttons have been added to the top of the page, and a number of different style banners have been added to the LINKS page for reciprocal link exchange (the html code will be added for each shortly for those people like me who don’t know how to make an image link to a website;).

I had planned on re-scanning a few other pieces, but with all the furniture (from the carpet repairs) in my studio, I can only get one foot inside the door, so no art for me today…or for a few more days probably (my hubby is quite ill at the moment, but hopefully will recover without another hospital visit.  So our plans have changed again slightly and we will be taking each hour/day as it comes until he recovers.