This is the pastel sketch of the day, of working Tervueren Ravin. It is a 30 x 25 cm sized portrait and took 6 hours to complete. I just love this sketch, love everything about it…  from the colors, the light, to the entirety. Well, some paintings just get better than others, even though they are only sketches. I also love Ravin’s expression here, he is such a clever young boy!

Pastel sketch of dog

Today I finally created a new gallery page with pet portrait in oil on my website with the two dogs Aiko and Zuki. You can view details by zooming in, like always. I also created an empty space in the oil gallery for a new painting which will be completed in 2012. I will add more paintings to the gallery next year too, but not several at the same time. Some current paintings will also have leave space for my new ones, so they will be deleted from my main gallery. Some website visitors also told me they would like to see an archive page with older paintings on my website, so I’m considering adding one like I used to have a few years ago. Well, let’s see what the new year brings.

Click on the image below to view the pet portrait…

New pet portraits added to the oil gallery

This is the last portrait I completed before Christmas, I just didn’t take the time to upload the final scan to my blog before today. The client has seen and approved it though. He wanted to have a white edge around the portrait, so that is why I painted this oil portrait this way. The thought was to paint this portrait in a more painterly feel than I usually do, leaving the stokes I have painted visible. I’m very happy with the result, view the close-up picture below to see all the tiniest visible stokes on the portrait. It is hard to paint this way, but I will continue with this style when painting people.

Oil Portraits of People

Oil Portrait Painting of Rolf - Close-up

Today’s news: I added the two latest pastel pet portraits to my gallery. The first dog portrait is of Doberman Harley in pastel and the second portrait is of  Chih tzu Penny in pastel, which I completed yesterday. Of course like all my portraits, you can view the paintings through the magnifying glass.

Chih tzu portraits in pastel

doberman portraits in pastel

I wrote a really nice Art Article – tutorial about how I scan my paintings and drawings. There are many large images included and I think all of you will benefit from  this. So many artists ask me how I photograph my artwork and how I get such great results, “what is your secret?”, they ask. Well, this tutorial is all about my secret and no, I don’t photograph my portraits.

I hope this tutorial with help you learn how to scan your art and that you will be able to use those high quality digital images for both your online galleries and printing. If you would like to give me any feedback on this tutorial, please drop me a line to katja@pet-art.net. Find the Article here: How to Scan Artwork.

Good luck and happy scanning!

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Scan your art

Tutorial about how to scan your artwork

Yesterday I went to get the framed portrait if Shih Tzu Penny. The client wanted a golden moulding, which suits the painting perfectly. I chose a lovely and simple dark gold framing with a light creme-colored mount. I just love how this framing made the pastel come to life. It would be a pity to choose the wrong framing for it, right!? I hope the happy recipient will love it and I’m sure she will.

Framed Shih Tzu Portrait

Framed Pet Portraits

Framed Shih Tzu Dog Portrait

This is the final scan of Aiko and Zuki. I scanned the painting in four parts and puzzled the pieces together. The portrait was completed in Friday, but it really had to dry a few days before I could place the painting on the scanner. Also, I never work on weekends so it had to wait until today. Anyway, hope you like it! I’m really happy with the result and I will try to find some time over in the evening to place the Shiba’s portrait in my gallery.

I’m also waiting for a huge package with bubble wrap to be delivered today, hoping it will arrive soon. Have three more portraits to pack and send before Christmas. Fortunately they are all going to be sent within Sweden and Denmark, so the delivery won’t take too long.

Shiba Inu pet portraits in oil

Shiba Inu pet portraits

This is a photo of me painting stage four of the two Shiba’s Aiko and Zuki. As you can see by comparing the hand next to the painting, it’s not a huge painting at all. The photo didn’t come out very well at all though, it looks like it has a sepia filer applied to it. The colors look quite different in reality, but you will have to leave those to the imagination until the painting is completed and scanned. The portrait will be completed and posted here in Friday.

Stage four of Aiko and Zuki

Today I added three new Framed Pet Portraits to my Framing section. The three framing examples are of mouldings called: Gold, Textured and Woody. I do name these mouldings myself, because I think it’s fun and a great way for clients to know exactly which moulding I’m talking about. Otherwise they only have numbers and I don’t think thats fun at all. The problem to come up with new names will start once I add too many framing examples to my website, I think.

Anyway, the portraits framed are of Pitbull Ripper, Doberman Harley and Groenendael Sauron. I will add the framed portrait of Chih tzu Penny in a couple of days too, but first I will upload that portrait to the news section right here.

Pet Portrait Framing Examples

For two more days I have been working on the portrait of Aiko and Zuki. Now I must leave it to dry for some time, but it feels nice to have a great base for the portrait which I started on Friday. In mean while I will continue with the portrait of Rolf.

Stage three of Aiko and Zuki