Dog Paintings

This is one of the first digital oil paintings that I did, sketching and painting the dog using using Photoshop CS4 oil brushes and blending with the smudge tool.  Initially I was happy with it, then after I did a few more digital paintings I relegated this one to the back burner as it lost its appeal.  I recently dragged it out from my work in progress folders and finished it off – all it needed was a closer crop and a touch more contrast:)

Chelsea - Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Pet portrait Painting

Cards, laminated, matted and framed prints of Chelsea can be purchased from my Redbubble shop:

Pet Portrait Commissions welcome.

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

Jack at the Beach

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

Wow the weeks are whizzing by, we are definitely in the ‘business end’ of the year!  I did actually manage to get my things together and enter some of my work in a show last weekend.  This was only the fourth show I have entered and clearly I didn’t learn from the previous experiences of farming at the last minute as I was matting and framing until 2.00am on the morning they were to be delivered!

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

This is the first time this original acrylic painting of a fawn Shar-Pei from my personal collection has been offered for sale.

The copyright watermark is a digital addition to the image below and is not on the original painting.

“Kruger”

Original acrylic Shar-Pei painting

9″x12″ acrylics on

Art Spectrum Colourfix art paper

$200.00AU (includes shipping)

10% of your investment in this artwork will be donated to the

Animal Protection Society of WA

"Kruger" Shar-Pei painting in acrylics by Michelle Wrighton

“Otis”

Tan & White smooth coat

Jack Russell Terrier

Original acrylic painting

8″x10″ on 1.8cm deep gallery wrapped canvas

$135.00 (includes shipping)

10% of your investment in this artwork will be donated to Russell Rescue

"Otis" original acrylic painting by Michelle Wrighton

The painting is continued on all four edges and is ready to hang.

*The copyright watermark is a digital addition to the image below and is not on the original painting.

“Otis” is also available on merchandise and prints, and this is the first time this original painting from my personal collection has been offered for sale.

According to Wikepedia The History of the Papillon is actually traced through works of art! The earliest toy spaniels resembling the Papillon are found in Italy. Tiziano Vicelli (Titian) painted these small dogs in many famous paintings including the Venus of Urbino (1542). Other well known artists who included them in paintings are Watteau, Gonzalez Coques, Fragonard and Mignard. In a painting after Largillierre in the Wallace Collection in London, a Papillon is clearly shown in a family portrait of Louis XIV. Papillons are also in paintings of royal families around Europe and paintings of merchant class families. The breed was popular in England, France, and Belgium which are considered counties of origin by the FCI.

This is the first time this original colour pencil painting on drafting film of a delightful little Papillon has been offered for sale and is your chance to own a little bit of Papillon art history!

“Papillon”

Original Artist Colour Pencil painting

by

Michelle Wrighton

9″ x 12″ on drafting film

"Papillon" colour pencil painting by Michelle Wrighton

Please note that the copyright watermark is applied to this digital image only and does not appear on the original.

“Poppy”

Black Labrador in Acrylics

16″ x 20″

Gallery Wrapped Canvas

2007

Artist’s Collection

"Poppy" Black Labrador art painting by Michelle Wrighton, 2007

Merchandise including gift cards and art prints featruing “Poppy” can be purchased at Redbubble, Cafepress and Imagekind.

Apart from some minor adjustments that I might add in the next day or so, this is the (almost) completed portrait of our Chinese Shar-Pei, Tia.

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.)

Wow Christmas seems to have come around so quickly this year! I’ve finished my last Christmas commission, a commermorative portrait of a beautiful Australian Kelpie called Tas who recently passed away. This portrait was done on Art Spectrum blue-grey Colourfix paper, 9 x 12 inches with a pastel underpainting and all the top layers of detail done in artists colour pencils.

Breed Profile: The Australian Kelpie

The Australian Kelpie was developed in the 1800’s by a small group of Australian Pastoralists from the inter-mixing of offspring of three pairs of working sheepdogs from Scotland.

Kelpies are an alert, eager, highly intelligent, loving, gentle, easily trained, loyal and devoted breed. Although devloped as a sheepdog – a job at which they excel, Kelpies also make wonderful family pets for people who can accomodate their mental and physical activity needs with pleanty of excercise and activities that allows them to use their intelligence, like Obedience training, agility, tracking or other dog sports.

The Australian Kelpie is of medium size, with males usually between 46 – 51 cm (18 – 20 inches) and females betwee 43 – 48 cm (17 – 19 inches).

The Kelpie has a moderately short coat (imagine somehwhere between a German Shepherd Dog and a Doberman), and has seven different colour variations: Red, Red and Tan, Black, BLack and tan, Chocolate, fawn and Smoke blue.

Follow the link below to see photos of different Australian Kelpie dogs:

http://images.google.com.au/images?q=Australian+Kelpie&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images

Now I just have to finish and frame Amarok’s portrait and I can have a short holiday over Christmas and do some ‘non-commission’ art for myself:)

I hope you all have a Happy and Safe Christmas and New Year, wherever you may be in the world!

Cheers

Michelle

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