Titanic Painting - 6 foot by 3 foot wood panel

I love when I get the chance to do something that I have never done before. When this customer emailed me and told me that they wanted a large mural painting of the Titanic I was a little nervous. I didnt know how I would be able to add my own style to something that has such a distinct image in everyones heads. The good thing was that he left the whole painting up to me. I started with whitewashing the veneered wood and laying the basic layout of the ship. I wanted to only use 4 or five colors and make the piece look crisp and clean. It ended up looking extremely industrial and the customer loved the piece. The painting changed the whole space and it is the first thing that people see when they walk in the door.

Non Canine portraits

I have done a ton of pet portraits lately so when I got an email to do people portraits I was stoked! This customer sent me three pictures and knew exactly what she wanted. She also sent me a picture of a large painting in her home that she wanted me to pull colors from for her portraits. Sometimes this is a bad thing because the quality of pictures isn't great, but in this case the photos were perfect. I really enjoyed doing these paintings for this little family in Florida. She was a great client and the paintings turned out awesome. They were painted on 11x14 canvas with acrylic paint.

Texas textiles

I cannot even tell you how determined I was to paint solid portraits for this customer in Texas. She e-mailed me and gave me a back story on her four dogs that she is absolutely in love with. She has lost three out of her four dogs recently due to surgery complications and old age. She wanted to get a portrait of each dog so she could hang them all up together in her home. It made me sick to think about the loss of three pets so close together. I knew that I had to capture each individual dogs personality and make sure that they were all cohesive when they hung next to eachother. Here is a photo of all four of them.

Domi the Dalmation - had to be put down due to old age.

 Lucky- Maltepoo - still alive after being hit by a car and taken in by her family.



Lexy - Black Chow- Passed away after 6 months of radiation treatment.



Princess - Rottweiler - Passed away during surgery.

This is what the paintings look like all put together. I loved this project and I am so happy that the customer enjoyed them as much as I did painting them. I recieved such an awesome e mail after she she got these paintings in the mail:

I just got home and opened the box. We are thrilled with them!!! To say we love them is an understatement. Here's why...not only are you ridiculously talented in the painting itself, but each and every picture captures them as individuals. Lexy, the furry badass with eyes only for me, Lucky the little tyrant hee hee that pretends to be oh so innocent. My Princess who had no idea she was a Rottweiler and was like a bull in a China store. And my Domi. The last of my big girls I've Said goodbye to. That's how she'd look at me as she loyally sat next to me as I got ready for work until she could no longer sit for so long. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Nora

This is why I love painting!!!!! To envoke an emotion through paint on a canvas is seriously the coolest thing in the world to me!!

Putty Portrait

A few weeks ago I received an email from a lady in Alabama that wanted a portrait done for her daughters dog. She is in love with her little guy as much as I am obsessed with my dane Duke so I knew she would have something good for me to paint.. She saw my artwork on the Nate Berkus show and decided to shoot me an email. She told me the awesome story of Putty and that he has been a part of their family for the past twelve years. They adopted him from a rescue ( which I absolutely love) because his original owners abandoned him. She then went on to tell me that they just found out Putty has lymphoma. Putty is 14 years old and undergoing chemotherapy treatment to treat his cancer. They know that they don't have a lot of time left with Putty so she wanted to get a portrait painted that they can hang in their home and keep forever. This picture was sent to me the day of his first chemotherapy treatment. This picture killed me so I knew i needed to paint a killer portrait to capture Putty in a better time.

I decided to do a close up painting of Putty and his huge floppy ears. I wanted to paint him so he didn't look sick. I took "Putty" features from multiple pictures they sent and the final product turned out awesome. This was an awesome project for me and this is why I love to paint. Knowing that my painting will strike a feeling in that family every time they walk in the door makes me do what I do. I gave this family a large discount on their painting and shipping to offset the HUGE cost of chemotherapy treatments. I hope this family can enjoy this painting for as long as Putty is alive and years to come. Putty was painted on a 24x30 canvas with acrylic paint.

Recent paintings

Well I have been super super busy lately with different requests for art and design work. These are two pet portraits I have done recently on canvas.

This is Dexter...The Puggle

This is Dexters homie Osmo...The Boxer

I love when I can capture a dogs personality in a painting. Some of my artwork that I did for Mandi at Vintage Revivals was featured on the Nate Berkus show. It was a small little plug, but I was super stoked to be on the show. I have received a ton of exposure from Mandi and I don't think she will ever know how grateful I am for the opportunity she gave me. She has no clue how talented she is and she is so humble about it. Check her work out here: vintagerevivals.blogspot.com. If your not tempted to do one of her ideas on her blog you are crazy! I have received e mails from all around the country wanting custom artwork for peoples homes. It has been an awesome ride and I have loved every minute of being able to paint and do what I love.

Commissioned Pet Portrait times 2

I know that I have said this before on this blog, but I LOVE doing pet portraits! I think it makes me feel a little more normal because of how obsessed I am with my dog Duke. Anyone that will hang a large portrait of their pet in their home has a special place in my art. These dogs were fun to paint. The images that the client sent me were absolutely perfect! Perfect lighting, good poses, and you can tell that the picture captures the personality of the dog. These paintings were both done on 20 x 30 stretched canvas. I have been getting a lot of questions about the size that I like to do pet portraits on. Well 20 x 30 is a perfect size. The bigger the better in my eyes!

I am going to start personalizing my art blog a little bit so customers can start learning a little bit more about me. I am 24 years old and married to my best friend. We have a 20 month old little boy named Charlie that is my whole world. He is my little buddy and I love that he always wants to be doing what I am doing. From helping me paint to fixing things around our house, he is always right behind me watching what I am doing. Duke is our two and a half year old Great Dane. We got him when he was four weeks old and bottle fed him until he was eight weeks old. He is the best dog and my second shadow. I work full time at a medical company and take 18 credits a semester to be a Respiratory Therapist. All of the rest of my time is given to my family. When I get home I spend time with Krysten, Charlie, and Duke. After I get my studying done I finally get time to paint and work on my art. By the time I get to start painting its about midnight. I paint from midnight till about three AM then start all over again the next day. I love this picture of my little man and I. I want to get him started early!!!

This is another thing I get a lot of questions about......my signature. Yes......It has a Frowny face in it.....Yes it quicj and unique..........and No I am not a doctor. HA