Toby - and a Lovely Sky

Toby

Oil on canvas, 12x12

Commission

It's a rare and wonderful event in my life when someone wants a minimalist pet portrait. I love making them - even though they are 50 times more difficult than the regular, maximum-style portraits. 

The regular portraits are very forgiving. Get the ear wrong and you can scrape it off and start again. The shape of the eyes is not quite right? Go over the line until it is. 

Not so with the minimal ones. When you put a line down, it had better be right. Placement of eyes, nose and ears has to be right the first time. It's hard - and exhilarating, and exciting, and engaging. 

I admit, I did Toby a couple of times before I got him. And that was OK with me. He's a lovely dog, isn't he? And he has such a sweet and gentle expression - I enjoyed the challenge, and I believe I rose to it.

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A FRIEND AND I have a yearlong project going. We're taking photos of the sky every day, and sending them to each other. It is an absolutely fascinating project, and is helping me see the sky better. Interestingly, I'm finding that I tend to like skies with lots of interesting clouds - I tend to like what the sky does. My friend tends to go after photos that show the breadth of the sky; she tends to like what the sky IS. 

Here's a photo I took yesterday, as I came home to Wachapreague in the early evening. 

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Dog of the Day

Crazy eyes!