Michelle Wrighton Fine Art and Photography

Solar was another beautiful dog that I had the pleasure of photographing several years ago.  Sadly, he is no longer with us, but I hope his Siberian Husky spirit still shines through in his pet portrait painting.  Before I started Solar’s portrait, I knew that I wanted to put him in a setting suitable for his breed.  I only wanted the background to be a subtle suggestion rather than a highly detailed landscape, so I avoided using any reference images to make sure I wouldn’t keep fiddling and adding more detail!  I’m quite pleased with how this turned out, I think it portrays his bright, happy personality quite well.

Siberian Husky Pet Portrait Painting by Michelle Wrighton

Dog Breed Info: The Siberian Husky has been a pure bred dog for centuries, originally developed by the Chukchi people of north eastern Asia as a sled dog. The breed became popular as endurance sled dgos after 1909, when a large number of Chukchi dogs were taken to Alaska to compete in the long-distance All-Alaska Sweepstakes races.

The Siberian Husky has a lovely affectionate temperament and gentle, friendly disposition. While they are eager to please, adaptable and intelligent, their independent spirit can sometimes be quite a challenge!

Greeting cards, laminated, matted, canvas and framed prints of “Solar – Siberian Husky” can be purchased from my Redbubble giftshop:

Redbubble now offers a selection of three card products to choose from – Greeting Cards are now available in the standard 4″ x 6″ or magnificent 5″ x 7.5″ versions. They are printed on marvellous matted card using state of the art digital printing technology and hold a remarkable external photo quality while retaining a wonderful writing surface on the inside. Greeting Cards are posted ready to fold and each with their own envelope. The new Postcards are a standard 4″ x 6″ and printed with the same technology and high degree of craftsmanship as the greeting cards and the flip side is adorned with the image name, artists details and space for your message, stamp and address details.

The quality of these Redbubble cards is excellent – certainly the quality is high enough to collect these as Art Cards and frame them to create a lovely display of small format art! Redbubble makes this an even more attractive purchase option by providing a healthy discount for multiple purchases of the same size cards – 4 greeting cards/20% discount, 8 greeting cards/30% discount, 16 greeting cards/40% discount. Similar discounts or free shipping offers apply for multiple purchases of other printed items at RedBubble, so look out for those while you shop!

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

Italian Greyhounds would have to be one of the most elegant and delicate looking breed of dogs and they have the most beautiful eyes! Italian Greyhounds, or “Iggy’s” as they are affectionately called, are the smallest of the sighthound family and despite their Toy breed classification and companion dog status, many still retain the instinct to chase small animals and birds!

The breed has a long and noble history spanning thousands of years.  Mummified remains of dogs similar to Italian Greyhounds have been excavated from the tombs of the Pharaoh’s in the Valley of Kings and it is believed that the breed originated in Egypt around 3000BC.  These small hounds were taken to the  Mediterranean by the Romans around 600 BC, and because of their popularity in Italy during the middle ages, they became known as Italian Greyhounds and were frequent companions to European Royalty and Aristocracy including Mary Queen of Scots, Charles 1, Catherine the great and Queen Victoria.  This elegant breed has been portrayed in art throughout the centuries from paintings to carvings and ceramic statues.

I strive to capture the essence of the individual animal in my artwork and so much of this is conveyed through the eyes, which are what compelled me to paint this gorgeous Italian Greyhound from a photo reference by fellow artist C. Sheeter.  I hope I have captured that unique spark in ‘Magnifico’.

Magnifico - Italian Greyhound Portrait Painting by Michelle Wrighton

Art prints and gifts featuring my Italian Greyhound Painting ‘Magnifico’ are available for sale in the following places;

Art By Michelle Etsy shop – signed and custom prints options for sale

Redbubble Art Shop Gift cards, matted, laminated, canvas and framed art prints for sale

Zazzle Art Shop Posters, ornaments, t-shirts, bags, posters, coffee mugs, canvas prints magnets, shoes, photo cards for sale

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

My original oil painting of ‘Angel’ the American Staffordshire Terrier was featured as Today’s Best product – considering that Zazzle has millions of unique designs this really is a huge honour!

American Staffordshire Terrier Pet Portrait in Oils by Michelle Wrighton

When I painted “Angel” I really wanted to portray the loyal, loving devotion that these beautiful dogs have towards their family when they are bred and raised by ethical, responsible people.

Unfortunately not all American Staffordshire Terriers and Pit Bull Terriers are as lucky as “Angel” and don’t always end up in responsible homes.

If you would like to purchase a print of ‘Angel’ or to view a range of gifts and merchandise featuring this artwork, please visit my Zazzle Giftshop or Redbubble.

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

Jack at the Beach by Michelle Wrighton

Owners of water loving, tennis ball obsessed Jack Russell Terrier dogs will appreciate the familiarity this scene! Digitally hand painted using pressure sensitive tablet and stylus in Corel Painter.

Art prints and gifts featuring this painting are available for sale in the following places;

Art By Michelle Etsy shop – signed and custom prints options for sale

Redbubble Art Shop Gift cards, matted, laminated, canvas and framed art prints for sale

Zazzle Art Shop Posters, ornaments, t-shirts, bags, posters, coffee mugs, canvas prints magnets, shoes, photo cards for sale

I can also be found on:

TWITTER

FACEBOOK – My Artwork

FACEBOOK – My Photography

SOUTH WEST PHOTOGRAPHY – my photography website

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

x Michelle

Dachshund - Digital Smudge Painting

This is one of my first digital painting attempts, using oils in photoshop to add colour and the smudge tool to blend.

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.

Well its the first of October so I had better post this one:) This is the first small format painting I have done in the dog painting series (so far all the art I have posted has been portfolio work in my personal collection). This is “Hallie” a most remarkable long haired black and tan dachshund, loved and owned by a fellow artist, Dee Dee Murray. When I saw the photo of Hallie laying on the couch, I just couldn’t resist the look on her face, isn’t she sweet?

This painting is still detailed and realistic, especially considering its size. I am pleased with how she has turned out, but I do think that it is going to take me a while to loosen up a bit more with my paintings!

“Hallie”

Long Haired Dachshund

5″ x 7″

Oil on canvas board

$150.00AU inc postage worldwide

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

K9 Rescue

Dachshund painting in oils by Michelle Wrighton

I have scanned this painting rather than photographing it, and the blue and green background in the image is showing quite a bit brighter than in the original painting, where the colours a bit more subtle.

Please feel free to leave a comment, I’d love to know what you think of “Hallie”.

Michelle

This is probably my favourite piece that I have done this year. The look in this dog’s eyes just says it all, he is laying there patiently waiting for his owner to come back.

This piece was completed purely in colour pencils on cream Stonehenge paper and took well over 55 hours of work to complete. It was worth it though, because it was awarded First Place in the Painting & Drawings: Animals class at the second Art Show I entered last month – pretty amazing seeing as colour pencil is such a new Fine Art medium, and because the other entries included oils, acrylics and pastels!

Cheers

Michelle

pencilportraits.com.au