Bit by bit, putting it together ...

Great Pyrenees painting  • 16 x 16 • oil on cradled GessobordTM WORK IN PROGRESS:

… almost there … just a hop, skip and a jump to the finish line!

Tales of yesteryear

Ray, having had a lifetime of experience as an office/studio cat, has been regaling Jo with stories of how he used to take naps on top of the computer monitor, way back in the day when he was just a youngster.

She hasn’t quite been able to figure out just how he did that.

More progress on the Great Pyrenees painting …

WORK IN PROGRESS • Great Pyrenees dog painting

16 x 16 inches • oil on 1-1/2 inch cradled GessobordTM

I got a bit more done on this one today; I loved doing the door, but now I see that the bottom panel isn’t quite right. Is it indented? Is it protruding? Hmmm, kind of reminds me of an M. C. Escher drawing -- I’ll definitely have to fix that tomorrow

Meanwhile, my new website is almost ready; I’m just doing a few final fixes and it will be ready to launch!

And the recently finished Free Indeed II: Sophie painting which will be winging its way to its new home as soon as the varnish dries, is now available as Limited Edition prints, as well as an ACEO Limited Edition Collectible Art Card:

12 x 16 inches • $65

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE from my eBay store

15 x 20 inches • $100

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE from my eBay store

2.5 x 3.5 inches ACEO (Collectible Art Card) • $7.50

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE from my eBay store

Happy Painting!

Lest you should think it’s all about the cats

Great Pyrenees dog painting WORK IN PROGRESS

16 x 16 inches • oil on cradled GessobordTM

This afternoon I started back on this one of Andy that I started a while ago.

It’s the perfect portrait of Andy ...

… because this is how he spends about 85 to 93% of his existence.

How she came to be

SOLD

Basketful O’ Jo  © Karen Mathison Schmidt
6 x 6 inches • oil on Ampersand Museum Series GessobordTM

private collection • Richardson, Texas

Here are my work in progress pics on this little one:

 The sketch in pencil, with the beginnings of the acrylic underpainting.

 I used Prussian blue (my favorite!), yellow and fuchsia acrylic glazes.

After the underpainting is dry, I start with the oils. I like to start right off with the eyes; it brings the painting to life right at the beginning!

You can already see how grumpy she is at having her nap interrupted.

 If you really notice, eyes are never just one color. They’re like colored glass. I love how adding just one little white highlight makes such a big impact.

Even though her right eye (the one on the left in the painting) is in shadow, it will still have a highlight, but not as bright white as the other eye.

As I add more colors to Jo’s face, I decide where to keep the vivid blue of the underpainting showing. 

 I still love my Santa Fe blue kitchen door.

New cat painting emerging … plus a location shoot

For those of you who have been awaiting a new cat painting, specifically a Jo painting …

… here she comes!

I was working on this one this afternoon when I remembered I was supposed to try to get a photo of myself “on location” for an upcoming project to be revealed later, and I wanted to do it today while it was nice and sunny, making for interesting shadow play in the background. Also because today wasn’t as cold as it’s been here lately -- not as much bundling up required!

Since Paul is unable to walk out to “the location” with me, I decided to attempt a self-portrait photo with me in the landscape I love to paint, and I set out into the beautiful afternoon with Roadie tagging along and just a tad over an hour’s worth of good light before the sun would be down behind the trees.

My goals for the photo: a good likeness and an interesting composition and a beautiful background. And not too obvious that I was taking my own picture. Oh, and I wanted to look relaxed and natural, too.

Piece of cake!

Right?

Okay, not bad for the first one. I like the background. 

Paul calls this my “driver’s license smile.”

Love the background, but I look kind of like zombie church lady.

This is Paul’s favorite. A total accidental shot: I could never have orchestrated or even predicted Roadie’s coming along right then, and I didn’t mean to click it while I was looking down, but I kind of love it.

Except for the tree growing out of my head.

Oh, wait. I forgot I wasn’t going to look at the camera.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! This is like the high school portrait where you’re supposed to be looking off into your future. I busted out laughing as soon as I saw it. Roadie couldn’t figure out what I was laughing at. Nice background, though.

 This one and the one below are probably the finalists.

But I’ll let you in on a little secret ...

This here’s the REAL me!

Thanksgiving