I am very pleased to say that I did quite well, one first and two seconds – and I have to be a proud mum and brag that my 12 year old was awarded a first for her graphite drawing of a marguay and first and second awards for her two sculptured dragons in modelling clay.

My oil painting  of a Ringtail lemur “Midnight in Madagascar” was awarded first place in the ‘Animals and Birds – any medium category’:

My charcoal painting of German Shepherd Dog “Noble” was awarded second place in the

‘Drawing – Any Subject category’.

“Noble” is also for sale as part of the Canine Art Guild’s Helping Paws exhibition.  To view a better image and purchasing information please visit the blog post for this German Shepherd Dog painting. Part proceeds from the sale of “Noble” will be donated to the Animal Protection Society.

My pastel portrait of the pomeranian “Peaches and Cream” was awarded second place in the

‘Pastel – Any Subject’ category

(the painting on the right of the dog chasing the hose water was the first place winner).

“Peaches and Cream” is for sale as part of the Canine Art Guild’s Helping Paws Exhibition.  Click to view a better image and purchase information of this Pomeranian painting, part proceeds of the sale of this art will be donated to K9 Rescue, Mandurah.

Thanks for looking at my art, and please don’t forget to vote for your favorite artwork in the Canine Art Guild’s Helping Paws exhibition – the animal rescue group supported by the artist who is voted Peoples Choice at the end of the exhibition will receive a cash donation from the Canine Art Guild!

Michelle

Purchase Prints at That Dog Shop at RedBubble:

About the Dog Paintings Project

My Art Portfolio

Hi!  My name is Michelle Wrighton, I am an award winning Western Australian artist specializing in Canine Fine Art.  I have undertaken pet portrait commissions for a number of years, and my online portfolio of commissioned pet portraits and wildlife artwork and photography can be viewed at http://michellewrighton.com.

I am a fairly versatile artist and prefer to work in a number of mediums including graphite, charcoal, artist colour pencils, soft pastels, acrylic and oils.  I love animals, and enjoy portraying their personality and character in my art – but dogs are my favourite subjects to portray, their uniqueness, expressiveness and personality truly make them man (and woman’s) best friend!  I have three dog’s of my own and would have more if I could:)

My commissioned artwork is created in a highly detailed and very realistic (almost photographic) style, and to achieve this level of detail, each piece of my artwork takes from 10 to 60+ hours to complete, depending on the size, medium and detail involved.

The Dog Paintings blog is a project that I have planned for several years to allow me to further my development as an artist by creating a series of smaller format and less time intensive dog paintings to experiment and explore artistic styles other than photo-realism and have a little bit of fun!

Yes, us artists can be a bit weird;)  Many of us take a ‘relaxing break’ from our regular (paid) art by creating more art in our free time just for ‘fun’.  I love dogs of all shapes, sizes, breeds and cross-breeds, so my subject matter will remain the same, I’ll just be working more expressively in the project work rather than in my normal tightly detailed style.

I could simply create these paintings and store them in a box in my studio, but as a piece of my heart and soul go into every piece of art that I create, I would much rather they go to good homes where they will be enjoyed and appreciated!  Therefore I will offer them for sale to dog lovers and art collectors at affordable prices with a percentage of each sale being donated to a dog rescue group to help dogs in need.

I welcome submission of dog photos for reference, however the paintings in this project are not intended to be dog portrait commissions as such.  I personally (as an artist, mother and wife) need this project to be fun, enjoyable, stress and pressure free which means no time deadlines:)

I will set up an email newsletter to advise the next few dogs that I am planning to paint, so if you submit a photo of your dog, this will give you an indication of when your dogs’ painting will be ready to view – there is no obligation for you to purchase the finished painting so please don’t be afraid to send me your favourite photos!

Michelle

This blog is currently under construction, so please excuse the dust while I move in and get settled.  I hope to have everything ready and other projects and commitments finalized in order to start the Dog Paintings project in September/October, but if you are keen, please feel free to submit your favourite dog photos now and read about the Dog Paintings series in the menu at the left of your screen.

The Galleries featuring my Dog Art will be ready soon for easy viewing (featuring both commissioned work and the dog paintings project gallery), but in the meantime, you can view examples of my dog breed art, pet portrait commissions, wildlife art and photography on my online portfolio at www.michellewrighton.com

Michelle

About my Dog Paintings Series

My Art Portfolio

This blog is currently under construction (thanks to my wonderful hubby), so please excuse the dust while I move in and get settled.  I hope to have everything ready and other projects and commitments finalized in order to start the Dog Paintings project in September/October, but if you are keen, please feel free to submit your favourite dog photos anytime – you can read about the Dog Paintings project in the menu at the left of your screen.

Eventually a Gallery of my Dog Art will be set up for easy viewing (featuring my dog artwork both commissioned work and the dog paintings project gallery), but in the meantime, you can view examples of my dog breed art, pet portrait commissions, wildlife art and photography on my online portfolio at www.michellewrighton.com

Michelle

About the Dog Paintings Project

My Art Portfolio

Achieving depth and dimension with her black coat and all those wrinkles was a great challenge, but I thoroughly enjoyed working on this and I am really pleased with the resulting portrait, although I might need to get a better photograph in better light!

“Tia”

Pastels on Velour Art Paper

10″ x 14″

Tia - Shar Pei Pet Portrait in Pastels

2006

This is the reference photo I used for Tia’s portrait – as you can probably see I took this photo with the flash on (something that is not usually recommended), just to make sure that I could see all the curves and contours of her wrinkly face! Most of the photos I have of her are either very black, or if she is in full sunlight, her eyes will be closed, so using the flash was the best way to get a nice detailed photo, then it was simply a matter of making her fur darker than it appeared in the photo to make it look like my dog rather than the washed out/faded reference photo.

This Shar-Pei art pet portrait features on dog breed merchandise such as stationery, prints, greeting cards, tote bags and more.

Shar-Pei Breed Info: Shar-Pei’s are an ancient dog breed, and are still fairly rare, although thanks to tv commercials such as the toilet roll ad with the wrinkly puppy, “Rolly” they are becoming more popular.

The breed is best known for its wrinkled apprearance which is caused by the excess skin they have. generally puppies and young dogs appear to have more wrinkles as older dogs grow into their skin a little bit. (This is actually a good thing, as Shar-Pei’s do suffer from skin conditions do to the wrinkles and rough fur irritating the skin.)

The name “Shar-Pei” literally means “sand-skin”, or loosely translated to “sand-paper-like coat” which refers to the unique characteristics of the Shar-Pei coat – its roughness and its shortness. The Shar-Pei also has another distinctive characteristic that is shared with only one other breed, the Chow Chow (also a Chinese breed) – both breeds have a blue-black tongue!

Of course I am biased, but Shar-Pei’s are an incredible breed – totally devoted to their families, highly intelligent and excellent watch/guard dogs!

More information on the Shar-Pei breed can be found at http://www.sharpei.com.au/

Cheers

Michelle

Sourced from: michellewrighton.com (© Copyright All Rights Reserved 2009.)

Created with soft pastels on black Art Spectrum sanded paper, this is one of those pieces that just seemed to paint itself and I am really pleased with the result. I can now really understand why many of my clients who have commissioned commemorative portraits of pets they have lost as it feels almost like having them back again, that probably sounds really strange, maybe its being able to see that familiar loving face every day. Of course a painting can never replace a dearly missed pet, but it certainly does help to heal the pain a little.

Jack Russell Terrier in Pastel

‘Harley’ in pastel: 9″x12″

At the moment I am working on a commemorative portrait of Cleo, a Bull Terrier cross. I had the choice to do it in graphite or colour and decided on graphite, I’m not quite sure why as apart from one ear she is a white dog, and rendering white fur on white paper with graphite is a bit of a challenge! I will post a picutre of Cleo’s portrait when it is finished.

Sourced from: michellewrighton.com (© Copyright All Rights Reserved 2009.)