STORMY by Linda Popple

This is a painting of one of my favorite dogs ..... and family member.  Her name is Stormy and she was adopted by Abby, Ben and Asher (three of my fantastic grandchildren) after she was abandoned by her previous owner.  I painted Stormy in Angela's moleskin.  She has several dogs in her book and they are all special and beautiful!  I hope you like this very late addition to your book, Angela.  I'll get it in the mail to Kay so she can add her work.

MUDBUGS

The so very talented, Jean Townsend selected detritus as the theme for her Texas Moleskine. I struggled quite a bit with the subject matter. I wanted to be original, but did not have a clue what to paint until I thought of painting crawfish. Hailing from SW Louisiana, I know a thing or two about the ever popular crawfish boil...served on a heaping pile of newspapers and with the crawfish and vegetable remnants left behind you have the perfect pile of detritus. I usually begin with a sketch, but since I did not know where to begin with this tangled mess of legs and tails, I "drew" a few lines with my brush and then just jumped in. It was cropped "rough" so that you could see my own detritus in the making. Thanks, Jean...this was fun!

Happy New Year to all of you!!

HOME GROWN

For Carol Morgan's book with the theme of Sides, I painted a woman tending her garden outside. Jean, this will be mailed to you shortly and then I will paint in my final book, which happens to be yours. I'm stumped on what to paint in your book, but my goal is to return it to you before the end of the year.

MISSY

oil on moleskine

Missy was a much loved family pet, so loved that to this day, her framed photo sits on Ann's bedside table along with her children's photos. Painting loved family pets that have passed is always rewarding, usually the photo references I have to work from can be a little problematic. I must thank Ann for the old and fuzzy snapshot, anything for a sweet friend. :-)

Jean, two books are coming your way, sorry for the delay!

MISS 68 for Sharon Hodges

8x12 oil on moleskine nfs

This is Miss 68 painted specifically for Sharon Hodges' moleskine and this is also #5 in my 50/50 series. Miss 68 belongs to friends of ours, I don't know what I like better, the amazing hospitality when we visit their gorgeous lakehouse in Corsicana or the bevy of bovines grazing outside our bedroom window! John has a wonderful variety of cattle, including some of my favorite longhorns. His cattle approach him easily making it a wide eyed adventure for myself and my camera toting husband. I hope you like cows as much as I do, Sharon. You can see more of my 50/50 series at my blog.

THE POSER by Angela Elledge

8x10 oil on moleskine nfs

Ok, I admit that I am terribly behind in my painting commitments for our moleskine adventure; please, please, please forgive me..."the end of the year school wrap up" just about did me in, but I'm back on track and will soon be all caught up. In addition to no time for painting, I had no idea what to paint in Linda's book. The Poser was so much fun to paint, he kind of just painted himself, don't you love when that happens? The background color was something of a struggle, I wanted something kind of dull, but sophisticated and something that would allow his feathers to stand out. I like the end results, but ya'll will have to let me know what you think. Jean, you should have Linda's book by the end of the week...I promise!

"Cowgirl" by Ann Rogers

oil in moleskin

This one is for you, Angela! Here's a painting of your precious Cowgirl. Don't know what I was thinking when I came up with the idea of painting a dog for the "Queen of Pet Portraits", but couldn't resist after I took this picture of Cowgirl one day when we were out for a plein air day. 

ROUGE RED by Angela Elledge

If you know me, then you know I love cows, so when I learned Kay Wyne's theme was Holy Cow, it was a matter of finding which one I wanted to paint for her. Rouge Red or Red Red if you prefer, is from SW Louisiana, thanks to my brother, who constantly provides me with photos filled with gorgeous landscapes dotted with cows.
Angela Elledge Blog
Angela Elledge Website

ZOE, AGAIN

8x10 oil on gessoed moleskine paper

In trying to decide what to paint on my introduction page of my moleskine, I thought it best to stick with a subject I knew and knew well. One year ago this month, we lost our sweet schnauzer, Zoe. She had been our family pet for 15 years and was most definitely a loved member of our family. She had many funny ways and expressions, this was the look I got from her when she knew she was in trouble. I thought there was too much contrast between Zoe and the background, so I warmed up her beard a bit, but forgot to re-photograph it before mailing my book to Jean. I am thrilled to begin this new project and cannot wait to see the treasures you all create!