Michelle Wrighton Fine Art and Photography

I’m currently in the process of setting up my new studio gallery:)  Seeing as I have not yet formally ‘moved in’ and started painting, I thought it would be a good idea to post some photos before I start and it develops into messy disorganized chaos (LOL I’m sure most artists reading this will chuckle as ‘messy studio syndrome’ is a condition that seems to afflict many of us;).

I know that I am beyond lucky to have a dedicated, completely self contained studio gallery less than 200 metres from my home…even more so because I have stunning views right from my studio window as well as a verandah that will be perfect for painting plein air landscapes:)

The gallery won’t actually be open to the public for a while  as most of my artwork was sold before we moved from the city so I need to get busy and build up an inventory of paintings!

My art studio gallery

Front View of studio

Partial view from my studio

Right Hand corner

Drafting table and computer table...minus the computer

Left hand side

I am slowly resigning myself to the idea that the ‘challenges’ of country wireless internet means I can’t necessarily update my blog whenever its suitable to me and that blog posts are probably better late than never. So in that spirit, this is an older digital painting of Annabelle, a black Standard Poodle, with a step by step progress demonstration image to show how the painting was created.

Black Standard Poodle Pet Portrait Painting

Although painted digitally using my Intuos 4 drawing tablet and ‘digital’ paintbrush, I develop the painting digitally just like I do when painting or drawing with traditional art mediums. I sketch the subject, and then start adding colour by blocking in the main shapes and values (shadows and highlights), and ‘glaze’ with varying degrees of transparent colour to create depth and form. Finally the details are added to complete the painting.

Painting in Progress images Black Standard Poodle

If you would like to commission a portrait of your poodle or other pet in traditional oil paints, graphite/charcoal or a digital painting such as this one, please contact me to discuss your requirements.

‘Summer Heat’ is an original painting based on a photo I took of my Standardbred gelding Tommy in our back paddock last summer.  I avoided putting too much detail in the painting and chose warm yellow and orange hues to really capture the feeling of a hot summers day in rural Australia.

Summer Heat - modern contemporary equine art by Michelle Wrighton

Summer Heat - Close up

‘Summer Heat’ is available as art prints and gifts items in my Redbubble and Zazzle shops, and will also be available as Limited Edition hand embellished prints on ready to hang gallery wrapped canvas.  Please contact me for pricing and purchase details.

Considering my normal subject material and style, how different is this one!

Boats at Harbour by Michelle Wrighton

As an animal and wildlife artist, I try to be bold with my colour choices while still retaining a high degree of realism, but I don’t usually get to enjoy using such explosive colour so paintings this one was an awful lot of fun! The fiery red reflections contrast against the cool blues and shades of turquoise greens in a way that would compliment a variety of modern contemporary interior designs.  Although painted as a single painting, I like it split up like the image shows as a triptych, but I think it would also work well as a four piece painting.  If two is a diptych, and three a triptych, I wonder what a four piece painting is called? I have absolutely no idea, so I better go google and find out!

Original abstract painting inspired by the colours and reflections of Fishing Boat Harbour in Fremantle, Western Australia.  Available for purchase printed with archival inks on ready to hang gallery wrapped canvas as well as glossy photographic prints for framing behind glass.

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

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Many people have never thought of having a portrait of their pet dog, cat, horse or other favourite animal painted, or plan to but never get around to it and there are also who love the idea but may not be able to afford to commission a portrait.

I’ve come up with an idea that I think will be a lot of fun for me and will give everyone a chance to have there own pet portrait painted for free! That’s right, I will paint pet portraits for free!

All you have to do is submit your favourite photo’s to my Facebook page – Michelle Wrighton Artist - and inspire me to paint your pet’s portrait! Dog, cat, horse, cow, lizard, bird – if you have an animal that is a big part of your life, let me know what makes him or her so special to you and tell me a little bit about their unique character and personality. If your photo inspires me to paint, I will send you a digital image of the finished portrait for you to have printed or share online with your friends.

The catch, the Cost and the Conditions? Ha! You were waiting for it wern’t you?

The catch?

I would like you to share my website url / facebook page with your friends and family – but only the ones that would be interested in paintings or prints, I hate spam as much as the next person! I’m not sure how many free portraits I will paint, or how long I will continue with this project for, so if you are interested, don’t delay in joining in!

The cost?

If your photo inspires me to paint, I really won’t charge you anything for the image I send you by email. But I would like you to pay it forward and make a small donation to one of the animal rescue organisations listed on my Facebook page. In your name and you can usually get a tax deduction for donations over $2.00. Consider it your random act of kindness for the day (btw I’m not interested in checking up to see if you donated or not).

The conditions:

Entry is free and is open to members of my Facebook Page – Michelle Wrighton Artist only. Photos need to be added to photo album on my Facebook page only. Submitting a photo signifies that you have copyright ownership and permission to use it – this usually means you took the photo! Submitting a photo signifies your permission for me to use the photo as reference for artwork that may be publicly displayed and offered for sale (original or prints).

Submitting a photo does not guarantee your pet portrait will be painted or that it will be painted within a set time frame. I have three children, a husband with a serious illness, five horses, five dogs, 2 cats, fifteen sheep and a dozen chickens to look after which means as much as I’d like to, I can’t paint 24/7:) Besides, I want this project to remain fun, not work!

So join the page, submit your photos, tell your friends and INSPIRE ME TO PAINT!

Oh, and if you are involved in an animal rescue organisation (dogs, cats, rabbits horses, wildlife) and would like to join this project, please let me know!

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

I’m sure that artists reading this will understand, LOL and non-artists will just think I am weird, but sometimes a painting takes on a life of its own with such determination that it almost seems paint itself – almost as if the subject has such strength of personality and character that its spirit insists on being immortalised in art.

Friesian Spirit is one of those paintings.

Friesian Spirit - Equine portrait painting by Michelle Wrighton

I havn’t decided at this time if ‘Friesian Spirit’ will be made available in my RedBubble and Zazzle art print and gift shops, as I am leaning towards offering this one as Limited Edition prints only. If you would like to be notified when ‘Friesian Spirit’ is available for purchase, simply subscribe to the rss feed for this blog, or join the new page I have created at Facebook for my artwork – Michelle Wrighton Artist

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’ will be available for purchase 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

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

Bright, bold and colourful, this impressionist digital oil painting is based on a photograph I took of Canola fields in full bloom north of Kojonup.

Canola out of Kojonup by Michelle Wrighton

Greeting cards, laminated, matted, canvas and framed prints of “Canola out of Kojonup” can be purchased from my Redbubble shop:

Impressionist digital oil painting created from my original photograph.

"Stars and Stripes" original painting by Michelle Wrighton

Greeting cards, laminated, matted, canvas and framed prints of “Stars and Stripes” can be purchased from my Redbubble shop: