Michelle Wrighton Fine Art and Photography

The original oil painting ‘Angel in Blue’ is one of my favourite traditional oil paintings on canvas that I have done.  Unlike many artists who will re-visit a painting they have created in the past and paint it again in a larger size or different medium, I very rarely, if ever do this…possibly because the traditional art mediums that I use (charcoal, graphite, color pencils, acrylic and oil paints) and the detailed style that I paint in take so many hours to create that I just have never had the desire to become that familiar with the image again!

However digital painting is proving to be so much fun and so liberating, LOL somedays I just think my artistic muse must be on speed;)  Or maybe something else a bit funny if the contemporary digital modifications that I have made to a photo of my American Staffordshire Terrier oil painting ‘Angel in Blue’ is any indication;)  While I still prefer the traditional oil painting version (and I am not sure if this version will appear anywhere else but in this blog post), my creative spirit is having so much fun that I feel somewhat compelled to share some of my experiments!  This is not a simple photo manipulation using one click filters or adjustments in photoshop, I have added all the new colours  to the photo and re-painted and blended them in this very funky version of Angel.  Nice and bright, hey?

Funky Angel - Contemporary American Staffordshire Terrier Painting

I met this gorgeous Dogue de Bordeaux some time ago at a dog show and new straight away that I would paint his portrait which I have finally managed to do.  Actually, I ainted him a while ago now, but I’m still playing catch up with my blog!  The Dogue de Bordeaux is still a rare breed, but most people will remember Tom Hanks’ co-star in the 1989 comedy “Turner & Hooch” and camera chomping dog in the Olympus Digital Camera advertising campaign.

Dogue de Bordeaux are believed to have originated in France over 600 years ago and are also known as the French Mastiff, Bordeaux dog, Bulldogue Francais, or simply DDB.  They were originally bred to hunt, guard and fight and these imposing, fearless dogs were popular protectors of the noble and wealthy.  Today, Dogue de Bordeaux are prized family companions for their loyal, devoted, playful and affectionate nature and sweet, balanced temperament and courage as a guard dog.

More information about this lovely breed can be obtained from the newly formed Dogue de Bordeaux Club of Australia.

Stormy Dogue - Dogue de Bordeaux painting by Michelle Wrighton

Greeting cards, laminated, matted, canvas and framed prints of “Stormy Dogue” can be purchased from my Redbubble giftshop:

A variety of other prints, tshirts, mousepads, coffee mugs and other items featuring ‘Stormy Dogue’ are available at my Zazzle giftshop.

Product selection from Zazzle

Thanks for visiting my blog  and sharing my art and photography with your family and friends!

x Michelle

Michelle Wrighton: Animal, Wildlife & Landscape Fine Art & Photography

FACEBOOK: Michelle Wrighton Artist

TWITTER: artistMichelleW

BUY CUSTOMIZED ART POSTERS, ART PRINTS, T-SHIRTS & GIFTS: Zazzle

BUY CARDS, PHOTO PRINTS, CANVAS ART AND FRAMED ART PRINTS: Redbubble

Busy, Busy Busy!  It seems like there is never enough hours in the day to get everything done – and that is my excuse for not updating my blog more regularly and I’m sticking to it!   One of the big things that is taking alot of time -many, many, many months – is a BIG PROJECT that is slowly nearing completion (click the link and follow me on Twitter for the announcement on that one).

I’ve also got a few new paintings to add to the blog, and a couple more that I am still working on, one of a dog painting, the other a horse and rider that is not flowing the way I would like it too, maybe a few days break from that one over easter will allow me too look at it again with fresh eyes.

Several people have asked how I complete my digital paintings with my graphics tablet and stylus, so I’ve also been working on a small series of articles explaining the different types of digital art and the process that I use to create my digital portrait paintings – some people seem to think that digital paintings are ‘one-click’ photoshop effects, but that explanation couldn’t be further from the truth!

In the meantime (because I have to run and feed the horses their breakfast!) this is a pet portrait painting I have recently completed of my gorgeous Border Collie dog, Taj (yes a painting for me!).  This is one of those paintings that just flowed without interuption, I suspect because I know the subject so well:)  Taj is a rather extroverted character, he’s never met a stranger and is such a show-off, he loves posing for the camera and really is the perfect photograhic and art model!  It may run in the family, because one of his uncles is the Border Collie in the Better Homes & Gardens television commercial.

Border Collie Dog Breed art by Michelle Wrighton

Prints of Taj’s portrait painting will be available for purchase from Redbubble and Zazzle shortly.

Thanks for visiting my blog  and sharing my art and photography with your family and friends!

x Michelle

Michelle Wrighton: Animal, Wildlife & Landscape Fine Art & Photography

FACEBOOK: Michelle Wrighton Artist

TWITTER: artistMichelleW

SHOP CUSTOMIZED ART PRINTS, T-SHIRTS & GIFTS: Zazzle

SHOP CARDS, MATTED, LAMINATED AND FRAMED ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY PRINTS: Redbubble

There is nothing quite like the unmistakable face of a British Bulldog!

Bulldogs are a dog breed developed originally from Mastiffs that were also used in the cruel sports of bull and badger “baiting” which were popular in England for hundreds of years until they were finally made illegal in 1850. Today’s Bulldogs are more heavily built and far less athletic than their ancestors, and they are generally placid, gentle and very affectionate companions who love children.

Bulldogs like Cromwell make devoted family pets, and although they can’t be exercised excessively, they can be quite lively and rambunctious and many of them have a good sense of humor!

If you are a Bulldog lover, this is your opportunity to own an original oil painting featuring this gorgeous breed!

“Cromwell” British Bulldog

5″ x 7″ Oil painting on

canvas board

$150.00AU incl shipping

(approx $105.00 US – view Currency Converter)

10% of your investment in this artwork will be donated to K9 Rescue

Cromwell British Bulldog Oil Painting

Credit card Purchases can be made securely through Paypal even if you do not have a Paypal account.

Don’t forget to visit the “Helping Paws” exhibition and vote for your favorite dog painting – the People’s Choice winner will have a cash donation sent to the rescue or shelter that the artist is supporting, so its for a good cause!

Thanks for reading and looking at my new dog painting! I’d love to know what you think of ‘Cromwell’ (he’s one of my favourite daily paintings so far:)

Michelle

http://michellewrighton.com

This is a painting I am working on in between commissions for my own portfolio – it might seem a bit strange but I have very few pieces of my own artwork to show clients because most of the work I have done over the past few years have been sold.  Which of course is a good thing, but I would also like to enter a few competitions and can’t do that when I keep selling everything, so hopefully over the next few months I can add a few pieces (at least six) to my own collection here and there.

I’d also like to experiment with a much looser style and try out some more landscapes if I get a chance.  To help keep me motivated to achieve these goals, I’ve joined in the Australian Art Forum’s Winter Challenge with will run from 1 May to 1 September.

It seems that most artists that paint with a high degree of realism tend to produce  pet portraits with traditional landscapes or portrait backgrounds, and those artists that paint in a bold contemporary style usually don’t paint in highly realistic detail.  I would like to pursue a slightly different direction with some of my artwork, although I don’t think I will ever move away from my realistic and ‘up close and personal’ style, I want to explore combining that with modern contemporary backgrounds.   Bright bold background colours and landscapes full of beautiful saturated colours that border on the real/surreal/hyper real.  Will it work?  Can it be done?  LOL, who knows, but I am sure it will be fun to find out:)

This one is likely to take a while to complete as I am fitting it in between commissions.  ‘Poppy’ is 16″x20″ on gallery wrapped canvas.  This is a big experiment as acrylic is a new medium that I am teaching myself how to use.  The thing I love about being self-taught is that you can try new and unusual techniques because no ‘expert’ teacher has deemed there is a right way and a wrong way.

Personally, I think as long as you use good quality artist’s materials, you can’t go far wrong by simply experimenting to find out what works (or dosn’t) for you:)

So here goes my experiment with ‘Poppy’.  I’ve deliberately chosen to offset the black labrador to the right hand side of the canvas, and to use a landscape orientation rather than portrait.  My vision for this one is to have the dog sitting a a field of red poppies. So I have to learn how to paint flowers as well, which will be fun:)

The first image shows my sketch of the Poppy, and the beginning of the background field, which has been created with many thin glaze layers of paint which has taken about 3.5 hours so far.

The next progress shot shows how I have started to block in the main shapes (shadows and highlights) in the underpainting using various dilutions of paynes grey.

More work on the underpainting and additional glazes on the background.

Stay tuned for the next updates on Poppy!

Michelle