Michelle Wrighton Fine Art and Photography

I was a very good little blogger and had this post of a black and tan Saluki Dog that I drew in graphite all ready to post a day or so after my lamb drawing.  However, life was turned upside down when my little girl was involved in a serious horse riding accident.  She was rushed by air to Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth by the Royal Fying Doctor Service and underwent emergency surgery in the middle of the night.  It will take time, but she was extremely lucky and should make a full recovery (LOL and now that she is starting to feel better she is quite happy to have an extra few weeks off school;).

My intention over the past few weeks with getting my new studio sorted out was to start promoting my commission work and start taking pet portrait commissions again.  However the timing of this accident has giving me time to think about both the past and the future.  I have realized that there have been so many similar situations over the years that has made working to deadlines for commissions very stressful and at time simply beyond reasonable possibility.  This has caused additional stress  that my family and I really don’t need while dealing with long term serious health issues that on many occasions over the last seven years have been life threatening.

I have looked back at the last few years and have reassessed my future plans for my art.  I realize that the last 12 months of painting digitally and my recent graphite drawings that I have created for myself from whatever has inspired me has been wonderfully enjoyable stress-free therapy.  Given my personal circumstances, the happiness and ‘time out’  that my artwork brings me is something that I desperately need to retain for my own sanity and health.  So by posting this, I am publicly giving myself permission to just enjoy my art, to experiment and create whatever inspires me in which ever medium I feel like using, without the need to be concerned that the end result will meet anyone elses expectations.  For a commissions artist, that thought is quite a liberating one!

Saluki Dog graphite drawing by Michelle Wrighton ©2010

It was definitely time for a facelift for the old blog so the new design is finally online, just in time to celebrate the arrival of my new gift shop at Zazzle.  We have selected Zazzle for printing products, prints and giftware  for a number of reasons, primarily the high quality of Zazzle products which are endorsde and used by world famous brands such as Hallmark, officially licensed Star Wars and Disney, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet,  Mythbusters, and many more.  So this means that products featuring selected reproductions of my artwork are in very good company!

Aside from that, the Zazzle Promise is the sort of thing that I personally take a lot of notice of when purchasing anything from an online store, and I would expect nothing less for customers purchasing products featuring my artwork.  The Zazzle promise means that:

• Your satisfaction is Zazzle’s Top Priority. If you are not satisfied for any reason with the final product, you may return your purchase for a replacement or refund within 30 days of receipt.
• Your information is secure – Zazzle SSL secured servers are tested daily to ensure your data will arrive privately and unaltered.
• Zazzle produces products on demand and ships very quickly! Production and shipping is within 24 hours for everything but a few products that take slightly longer than 24 hours to produce and ship.
• And finally a great range of products and gift lines to feature my art, many that you can customise to suit your own preference!

Please click the link below to visit the new gift shop and let me know what you think!  New artwork is being added daily and if you would like to be notified of new additions, simply subscribe to this blog, follow me on Twitter or fan me on Facebook

Zazzle.com.au/mwrighton

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

“Rainbows and Sunshine”, what else could I call this fun filled colourful pastel painting of a black Newfoundland puppy? I really enjoyed painting this one, I really wanted to loosen up, and convey the personality without much detail, so I actually used a very bad reference photo that I had taken at a dog show. (At the time I was disappointed that the photo was so bad, but the resulting painting is worth it I think:)

Painting realistic pet portraits means that I don’t usually get to splash around with lots of colour, so that was the main aim with this one – plus to capture the late afternoon sunlight and the glorious colours in his fur without using black!

“Rainbows & Sunshine”

Newfoundland Puppy Painting

Artist Pastels on acid free pastel paper.

Image Size: 11″ x 13″ approx

2008

$200.00 (includes shipping)

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

"Rainbows & Sunshine" Newfoundland puppy pastel painting by Michelle Wrighton

“Otis”

Tan & White smooth coat

Jack Russell Terrier

Original acrylic painting

8″x10″ on 1.8cm deep gallery wrapped canvas

$135.00 (includes shipping)

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

"Otis" original acrylic painting by Michelle Wrighton

The painting is continued on all four edges and is ready to hang.

*The copyright watermark is a digital addition to the image below and is not on the original painting.

“Otis” is also available on merchandise and prints, and this is the first time this original painting from my personal collection has been offered for sale.

Border Collies are my favorite breed of dog – we have two and would have a lot more if we could! I know this little painting of a working bred Border Collie would make an excellent Christmas present for any BC lover:)

“Blue”

Border Collie oil painting

5″x7″ on canvas board

$150.00AU inc shipping

10% of your investment in this artwork will be donated to Border Collie rescue

"Blue" Border Collie Oil Painting by Michelle Wrighton

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

Thanks for looking at my new artwork! Don’t forget, if you would like to see your dog immortalized in a daily Dog Paintings, you can submit a photo of your dog obligation free!

Cheers

Michelle

http://michellewrighton.com

According to Wikepedia The History of the Papillon is actually traced through works of art! The earliest toy spaniels resembling the Papillon are found in Italy. Tiziano Vicelli (Titian) painted these small dogs in many famous paintings including the Venus of Urbino (1542). Other well known artists who included them in paintings are Watteau, Gonzalez Coques, Fragonard and Mignard. In a painting after Largillierre in the Wallace Collection in London, a Papillon is clearly shown in a family portrait of Louis XIV. Papillons are also in paintings of royal families around Europe and paintings of merchant class families. The breed was popular in England, France, and Belgium which are considered counties of origin by the FCI.

This is the first time this original colour pencil painting on drafting film of a delightful little Papillon has been offered for sale and is your chance to own a little bit of Papillon art history!

“Papillon”

Original Artist Colour Pencil painting

by

Michelle Wrighton

9″ x 12″ on drafting film

"Papillon" colour pencil painting by Michelle Wrighton

Please note that the copyright watermark is applied to this digital image only and does not appear on the original.

My second entry for the Canine Art Guild’s ‘Helping Paws’ online Exhibition is my charcoal painting of “Noble” the German Shepherd Dog. “Noble” seemed like a very appropriate choice to exhibit in an exhibition titled “Helping Paws” considering the number of GSD’s around the world that lend their paws to help people in need in many different situations including the Police force, military, search and rescue and service and therapy dogs that aid people with disabilities and illness.

“Noble”

German Shepherd Dog

Charcoal Painting on drafting film

11″ x 14″

$350.00AU inc shipping

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

the Animal Protection Society of WA.

German Shepherd Dog original Charcoal Painting by Michelle Wrighton

“Noble” will be available for sale in late October/November as I have entered him in a couple of local art competitions.

All of the artwork in the CAG Helping Paws Exhibition is for sale with part proceeds going to rescue groups and shelters selected by the artists around the world.

To view the work of many talented canine artists, please visit the ‘Helping Paws’ Exhibition after October 1 (US time), and while you are there, vote for your favourite painting – the rescue group chosen by the artist who wins the People’s Choice award will receive a cash donation from the Canine Art Guild (as well as the artists’s donation pledge when the art sells).

If you have a German Shepherd Dog that you would like to see painted (obligation free) to help dog rescue please send me a photo or two and a brief description of your noble friend.

I will post the third and final entry to the Helping Paws exhibition on opening day, so look out for that one!

Thanks for looking:)

Michelle

“Royalty”

Greyhound

Original acrylic painting

by

Michelle Wrighton

8″x10″ on 1.8cm deep gallery wrapped canvas

$135.00 (includes shipping)

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

"Royalty" original Greyhound dog painting by Michelle Wrighton

This is a small acrylic painting of Gilley, a rescue Greyhound dog from the UK. Greyhounds have the most beautiful, big, liquid, expressive eyes that are an absolute joy to paint. As a breed, Greyhounds have such a regal bearing that the deep purple background seemed appropriate for Gilley’s painting

These smaller paintings are very enjoyable to do, although this one is still quite detailed, I am really trying to loosen up and capture the essence of the animal without being totally pre-occupied with capturing every last detail!

The painting is continued on all four edges and is ready to hang. “Royalty” is available on merchandise and prints, but this is the first time this original painting from my personal collection has been offered for sale.

*The copyright watermark is a digital addition to the image below and is not on the original painting.

This is the first time this original acrylic painting of a fawn Shar-Pei from my personal collection has been offered for sale.

The copyright watermark is a digital addition to the image below and is not on the original painting.

“Kruger”

Original acrylic Shar-Pei painting

9″x12″ acrylics on

Art Spectrum Colourfix art paper

$200.00AU (includes shipping)

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

Animal Protection Society of WA

"Kruger" Shar-Pei painting in acrylics by Michelle Wrighton

“Grey Ghost”

11″ x 14″

Artists Colour Pencil on Drafting film

by

Michelle Wrighton

"Grey Ghost" Weimaraner portrait by Michelle Wrighton

This colour pencil painting received an Honourable Mention at the 2007 Kelmscott Show, which was quite an honour considering that it was the only non-human artwork in its category!

LOL, I tend to walk to the beat of my own drum and don’t always follow tradition (self taught artist and all that;) I consider much of the art that I produce as ‘portraits’, the fact that they are non-human is not really relevant in my humble opinion, so I went ahead and entered this one in the ‘Portraits’ category (the rules didn’t stipulate which species the portraits had to be of, so I thought it was a reasonable option). LOL the judge either agreed with me, or was also a dog lover as well. I did win a couple of first prizes in other categories with other animal art I had entered, but the ‘Highly Commended – Portraits’ award for this one was pretty sweet;)