Archive for May, 2010

Stormy Dogue – Dogue de Bordeaux Painting

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

I met this gorgeous Dogue de Bordeaux some time ago at a dog show and new straight away that I would paint his portrait which I have finally managed to do.  Actually, I ainted him a while ago now, but I’m still playing catch up with my blog!  The Dogue de Bordeaux is still a rare breed, but most people will remember Tom Hanks’ co-star in the 1989 comedy “Turner & Hooch” and camera chomping dog in the Olympus Digital Camera advertising campaign.

Dogue de Bordeaux are believed to have originated in France over 600 years ago and are also known as the French Mastiff, Bordeaux dog, Bulldogue Francais, or simply DDB.  They were originally bred to hunt, guard and fight and these imposing, fearless dogs were popular protectors of the noble and wealthy.  Today, Dogue de Bordeaux are prized family companions for their loyal, devoted, playful and affectionate nature and sweet, balanced temperament and courage as a guard dog.

More information about this lovely breed can be obtained from the newly formed Dogue de Bordeaux Club of Australia.

Stormy Dogue - Dogue de Bordeaux painting by Michelle Wrighton

Stormy Dogue - Dogue de Bordeaux painting by Michelle Wrighton

Greeting cards, laminated, matted, canvas and framed prints of “Stormy Dogue” can be purchased from my Redbubble giftshop:
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A variety of other prints, tshirts, mousepads, coffee mugs and other items featuring ‘Stormy Dogue’ are available at my Zazzle giftshop.

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Sort by: date created | popularity    Showing 1 - 12 of 30 products.  1 2 3 > >>

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Inspire me to Paint | Win a Pet Portrait Painting

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Many people have never thought of having a portrait of their pet dog, cat, horse or other favourite animal painted, or plan to but never get around to it and there are also who love the idea but may not be able to afford to commission a portrait.

I’ve come up with an idea that I think will be a lot of fun for me and will give everyone a chance to have there own pet portrait painted for free! That’s right, I will paint pet portraits for free!

All you have to do is submit your favourite photo’s to my Facebook page – Michelle Wrighton Artist - and inspire me to paint your pet’s portrait! Dog, cat, horse, cow, lizard, bird – if you have an animal that is a big part of your life, let me know what makes him or her so special to you and tell me a little bit about their unique character and personality. If your photo inspires me to paint, I will send you a digital image of the finished portrait for you to have printed or share online with your friends.

The catch, the Cost and the Conditions? Ha! You were waiting for it wern’t you?

The catch?

I would like you to share my website url / facebook page with your friends and family – but only the ones that would be interested in paintings or prints, I hate spam as much as the next person! I’m not sure how many free portraits I will paint, or how long I will continue with this project for, so if you are interested, don’t delay in joining in!

The cost?

If your photo inspires me to paint, I really won’t charge you anything for the image I send you by email. But I would like you to pay it forward and make a small donation to one of the animal rescue organisations listed on my Facebook page. In your name and you can usually get a tax deduction for donations over $2.00. Consider it your random act of kindness for the day (btw I’m not interested in checking up to see if you donated or not).

The conditions:

Entry is free and is open to members of my Facebook Page – Michelle Wrighton Artist only. Photos need to be added to photo album on my Facebook page only. Submitting a photo signifies that you have copyright ownership and permission to use it – this usually means you took the photo! Submitting a photo signifies your permission for me to use the photo as reference for artwork that may be publicly displayed and offered for sale (original or prints).

Submitting a photo does not guarantee your pet portrait will be painted or that it will be painted within a set time frame. I have three children, a husband with a serious illness, five horses, five dogs, 2 cats, fifteen sheep and a dozen chickens to look after which means as much as I’d like to, I can’t paint 24/7:) Besides, I want this project to remain fun, not work!

So join the page, submit your photos, tell your friends and INSPIRE ME TO PAINT!

Oh, and if you are involved in an animal rescue organisation (dogs, cats, rabbits horses, wildlife) and would like to join this project, please let me know!

SourcedFrom Sourced from: michellewrighton.com (© Copyright All Rights Reserved 2010.)

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Solar – Siberian Husky Portrait Painting

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Solar was another beautiful dog that I had the pleasure of photographing several years ago.  Sadly, he is no longer with us, but I hope his Siberian Husky spirit still shines through in his pet portrait painting.  Before I started Solar’s portrait, I knew that I wanted to put him in a setting suitable for his breed.  I only wanted the background to be a subtle suggestion rather than a highly detailed landscape, so I avoided using any reference images to make sure I wouldn’t keep fiddling and adding more detail!  I’m quite pleased with how this turned out, I think it portrays his bright, happy personality quite well.

Siberian Husky Pet Portrait Painting

Siberian Husky Pet Portrait Painting

Dog Breed Info: The Siberian Husky has been a pure bred dog for centuries, originally developed by the Chukchi people of north eastern Asia as a sled dog. The breed became popular as endurance sled dgos after 1909, when a large number of Chukchi dogs were taken to Alaska to compete in the long-distance All-Alaska Sweepstakes races.

The Siberian Husky has a lovely affectionate temperament and gentle, friendly disposition. While they are eager to please, adaptable and intelligent, their independent spirit can sometimes be quite a challenge!

Greeting cards, laminated, matted, canvas and framed prints of “Solar – Siberian Husky” can be purchased from my Redbubble giftshop:
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Redbubble now offers a selection of three card products to choose from – Greeting Cards are now available in the standard 4″ x 6″ or magnificent 5″ x 7.5″ versions. They are printed on marvellous matted card using state of the art digital printing technology and hold a remarkable external photo quality while retaining a wonderful writing surface on the inside. Greeting Cards are posted ready to fold and each with their own envelope. The new Postcards are a standard 4″ x 6″ and printed with the same technology and high degree of craftsmanship as the greeting cards and the flip side is adorned with the image name, artists details and space for your message, stamp and address details.

The quality of these Redbubble cards is excellent – certainly the quality is high enough to collect these as Art Cards and frame them to create a lovely display of small format art! Redbubble makes this an even more attractive purchase option by providing a healthy discount for multiple purchases of the same size cards – 4 greeting cards/20% discount, 8 greeting cards/30% discount, 16 greeting cards/40% discount. Similar discounts or free shipping offers apply for multiple purchases of other printed items at RedBubble, so look out for those while you shop!

SourcedFrom Sourced from: michellewrighton.com (© Copyright All Rights Reserved 2010.)

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New Facebook Page | Art

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Just a quick update post this time, no art to share at the moment, sorry!

Regular visitors to my blog may have noticed the change in the Facebook buttons on the right hand side of the page. I have decided to separate my art (drawings, paintings) from my existing South West Photography page. The new Facebook page is Michelle Wrighton Artist. I’m not 100% sure how I will utilise the Facebook page as opposed to this blog which I will obviously keep updating, but the ease of sharing photos within Facebook makes me think that running a few competitions for pet portrait paintings might be easy and fun to do, so if you are on Facebook, please add my new art page Michelle Wrighton Artist to your favourite pages and you will hear from me soon about the first competition!

SourcedFrom Sourced from: michellewrighton.com (© Copyright All Rights Reserved 2010.)

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