New paintings

Here's a dog portrait I just finished and a portrait of a little girl that is about half-way done.

I'm going upstate tonight to help my father-in-law with a painting workshop he's teaching. When I paint with him in his studio he'll check up on me every so often to give pointers but I've never actually seen him do a demo or teach a class. Should be enlightening. I haven't drawn a model from life in years, so I'm hoping to sit in on the workshop and see what horrors I can produce.

Celebrate National Pigeon Day!

That's right, folks. It's National Pigeon Day.

Personally, I don't think our little dove friends get near enough love in this city. I am a reluctant city dweller, and one of the things I miss the most about more rural areas is the wildlife. Pigeons , squirrels and rats, although vilified by the vast majority here, are my only day to day connection to the undomesticated animal world. Personally, I can sit and watch pigeons strut around puffing up their necks, fighting over stale donut-holes and roosting on building ledges all day. I try to stick them into my drawings whenever I can.

You can call them 'flying rats' if you want, but I can't imagine the city without them. God bless the pigeon.

I'm working on a new dog portrait. You can see a few day's progress in the photos here. Not done yet, but getting there.

New Chihuahua Portrait / Cats Rule

I struggled a lot with this little guy's face, but I think I finally nailed it. The background color palette harkens back to the days when I'd use harshly bright primaries right out of the tube, but in this case I think (hope) it works.

I also started a portrait for my old pal John Skariza from Richmond. His little buddy is very sick, but hopefully she'll muddle through. This portrait should be very challenging since the photo is somewhat blurry and the cat is mostly black. We'll see what happens!

Another good friend (and talented photographer) Aubrey Edwards' poor kitty, Harry, had to be put to sleep this week. I know it's never an easy decision, having just been through it with one of my cats, but sometimes you have to let them go so that they don't suffer. Here are a couple of portraits Aubrey snapped before heading to the vet. R.I.P., Harry!

More Dog Portraits

The portrait of the Scottish Terrier is almost done. I thought it was finished, but there's something not quite right with the background....it's a little too sparse. I might scumble in some texture or something.

I started working on a new portrait of my first long-term girlfriend's current girlfriend's chihuahua. I was getting very frustrated with the face because Wilfredo (the chihuahua) has a very cute & expressive punim that I just couldn't capture correctly. I rubbed out his face several times, and I think I at least got the proportions correct this time. I'm going to let it dry for a week and try again 'cause it started to get muddy.

Tatum O'Neal's Pet Portrait Progress

I got some more work done on Tatum's scottish terrier (R.I.P., little guy). The fluorescent lights really throw off the color in this photo, but you get the idea. My father-in-law's suggestion to obliterate the ochre/greenish color at the bottom helped immensely. That guy's a genius when it comes to painting. Some of the drawings he did during the 1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott were bought by a museum in Oberlin, OH, so if you happen to live there, be sure to keep an eye out!

Pete Meat

I just finished another pet portrait in the traditional style. It's my childhood friends' dog "Pete Meat". I think it turned out pretty well. I don't know why I'm drawn to keeping the backgrounds so vague and ethereal. Is it because I'm lazy or is it because I want to draw all attention to the subject? You decide.

Now I'm working on a posthumous portrait of Tatum O'Neal's scottish terrier. I liked the very very loose quality of just blocking in the darks that I did the first day so much that I'm tempted to stop working on it and leave it as is. I should probably take it as a sign that this portrait will go well, though, and keep going.

Holy Hip-Hop!

In honor of Snoop Doggy Dogg's birthday today, I present a stunning portrait painted by Alex Melamid now showing at The Forum Gallery in L.A. This current show features paintings of various hip-hop stars (50 Cent, Kanye West, Russell Simmons, Lil Jon, Reverend Run, etc.) done in the old masters style.

I can't wait until the show comes to New York (January, I think).

In order to somehow incorporate a shameless plug for myself into this thread, I'm also posting a photo of one of my traditional pet portraits of...Pony Doggy Dogg!

Editors Note: I just realized that Snoop's birthday is actually tomorrow...sorry, Snoop!