Cutie Patootie

Praise the LORD, my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits –
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

PSALM 103:1-5

 WORK IN PROGRESS: Tabasco (Chihuahua)

Hey, I’m finally back at work after an unexpected break for most of October, and boy am I grateful to be painting again! My husband has been in the hospital for 16 days, recovering from a fall and an infection; he’s now well from the infection and working to regain his strength and mobility so he can come home. Tomorrow he will move to a physical rehab facility where, hopefully, he can improve faster and be home sooner!

The photo above is where I am on this commissioned painting, a portrait of Tabasco the Chihuahua, who lives in Sweden. His owner sent me a photo of him napping on her computer desk, and asked if I could put him in a comfy sofa setting similar to these paintings of our Buster and Blue. What fun! (I’ll show in an upcoming post how I went about it.)

Here are some work-in-progress photos:

My underpainting: first I did the sketch using Prussian blue, then laid in acrylic glazes of Hooker’s green, phthalo blue, cadmium yellow light, and pink madder.

The blanket showing on the left and right is going to be a red plaid in the final version, and the blanket in the center will be a greenish teal. The quilt in the background is the same one as in the painting of Blue, above on the right.

What a cutie-patootie this Tabasco is! 

Check back for further progress ... plus (speaking of cutie-patooties) photos of our newest addition! Here’s a sneak peak: