The Patchwork Dog

Here, using my own sweet jack russell terrier as a model, is a child's toy...a patchwork dog.
I hope you like him.

The Patchwork Dog

Sam and Shannon

Today's paintings were created as a present for a young lady, Shannon.
She owns a spaniel called Sam.

The first painting is something a little different, in that the outline of Sam the dog is made up of his name, but the nose, eyes and heart are made up of Shannon's! Painted in watercolour and ink.

The second is Sam painted in a more traditional painting, created in watercolour.

Talullah

Today I am delighted to show you my latest dog painting.

She will soon be winging her way over to the USA.

The darling Talullah.

 11" x 7"
painted on Saunders Waterford paper, using Winsor & Newton watercolour paint.

Foggy Dog Walk

After the Misty Mountain Cottage, we're progressing to a foggy dog walk!
Both of these paintings were inspired by a foggy picture taken by a friend in the US, which I then adapted to look as if it could have been part of our new life here, in Scotland.

Foggy Dog Walk

Painted on St. Cuthbert's Mill SW140R paper, 15"x 8"

Ollie, a recent commission

I was recently approached to paint a beloved dog - and this is the result.
Black, brown and curly fur! He was fun to paint. 

Ollie

Then the painting went to Elite Framing, to have some mounts cut and to be posted to the other end of the country!

I'm pleased to say that the person who commissioned me was delighted with the painting.
Created on St Cuthbert's Mill Saunders Waterford 140Rough paper, size 15x11 inches pre mount.

MissyCard

Good morning friends!
It's the time of year to be painting my Christmas cards, which means there isn't a lot of painting to show you!

But, I can show you one - that's because it's going to be the card for my OH.

Here it is - loosely based on our darling Missy

MissyCard

Always on Duty

Hello friends!
Hubby and I have had some time off and have been doing some work in the garden.
You can see what we've been up to HERE

As well as the garden project, I've done a little painting:

this is Always on Duty as it was on my drawing board (where I sometimes paint) in the Summerhouse.
The eagle eyed amongst you will notice I was trying out a different technique to my usual.

and here's how it looks close up:

Always on Duty

click the painting to see a larger version.



Now we're back to normal, with wet weather - I'm looking forward to catching up on all your blogs.

Robbie

Here's my latest dog portrait, a lovely crossbreed called Robbie.
I have done a work in progress for Robbie - and you'll find that on my other blog HERE if you'd like to see it.

I drew this one on watercolour rough paper, because I wanted to see if it would give Robbie a more 'alive' feel.
His owner has the drawing now and I'm thrilled to say she loves it.
Her words 'You've given me back my Robbie. I feel as if I could pick him up and cuddle him.'

Robbie

Saskia

This last week hasn't given me much time to paint, because hubs had a relapse on the bug front and has been off all week. I've had to be nurse :)

But yesterday morning, before he was up, I finished up this watercolour and ink painting of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier dog.
I'm hoping to get back to a more normal routine next week, when my brushes will get a great workout!

Here's Saskia...

saunders waterford 140lb rough

7 x 15 inches

 

Bill

Good morning all.
Today's painting is rather special to me.

Its a portrait of Bill, a jack russell - and he was painted for the winner of an auction, that was held to benefit South East Dog Rescue.

So the rescue benefits and Bill's owner, who has seen the portrait, has a gorgeous painting (her words!) to enjoy.

That's my good news story - hope you enjoy it too!

Bubble the Clown

Here's my latest dog portrait, Bubble the Clown

she's a fun loving, joyous dog, so I painted her to reflect this.
I hope she brings a smile to your face!

Bubble the Clown

a very happy Missy

Christmas Eve Missy had an end of year check at the vet's surgery.
Everything was well, she's in fine physical shape, with only the beginning of slow growing cataracts. That's probably due to her age - she's 14 now!
But, they show no signs of stopping our darling girl enjoying life - as you can now see :)

Here's my Christmas goodies!

I particularly like that one - there!

How did mummy miss the hedgehog out?

wrapping paper's all mine too!

You're not tidying my hedgie away!

All that playing makes a girl hungry!

After a good lunch comes a snooze! 

We're fortunate to be off work now until the New Year, when we'll be back and ready to resume normal blogging. Have a great time all, til then xx

Miss Molly

December is a busy month for us all.
There's preparations and present shopping for Christmas, extra work to be done before we're off for the holiday. For we artists too, I bet there are lots of paintings you can't show or hint at, because they are presents.

This painting is a present too. I have shown it to Nicola, in case there was anything she wanted changed because it wasn't sitting right, before I sent it to the other end of the country! Fortunately for me, she loved it.. so I can show it to you . For Nic its good too,  she'll be able to have it framed for Christmas :)

Miss Molly

Love, Actually

A little while ago I made a pencil portrait called Manifestly, Love. 
It was a portrait of my friend, Lynne and her dog, Ben.

Today I show you the other half of the portrait, which features Stuart and Ben.

I'm going to frame these two pencil drawings and give them to Lynne and Stuart as their wedding present.

Eminently fitting for  Manifestly, Love and Love, Actually.

Love, Actually

Missy takes over !

No, its not a dominance thing with Missy, we don't subscribe to that theory. Instead today's blog post is all about having fun with our dog.
We believe that kindness and fun are the way to train dogs, so we can enjoy life together!
We bought darling Missy some new agility equipment for use in the garden .

Here she is, ready for the off

Going through the hoop

Trying out the weave poles and thoroughly enjoying it

and having a go at flyball. She has to put paws on the board to make it release the ball.

and once she had the ball, she had to do a " lap of honour"  :)

The joy in Missy's life spills over to ours. Its great to have such a fun companion. 

Manifestly, Love

I don't think this pencil drawing needs any explanation .. it is....

Manifestly, Love

This picture will have a permanent place in my Gallery Site, 

Pat Elliott Paintings (click to visit)

For Sandra and Prabal

For Sandra and Prabal, who very kindly tagged me in a post.
Usually I don't do tag posts or awards, as you may have noticed.
But this one was relating to art and my personal feelings, so I'm having a go!

The questions:

– Your most beautiful post
– Your most popular post
– Your most controversial post
– Your most helpful post
– A post whose success surprised you
– A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved
– The post that you are most proud of


My most beautiful post is also the one I am most proud of. 
In Immolatum I see the beauty of the sacrifice that Jesus made for me. His face, though in pain, is beautiful to me. 
I am most proud of it, because I wanted to paint Him since first I put brush to paper, some 14 years ago. Only with this post, did I feel ready. Its an achievement and a milestone for me. 

My most popular post is the one where I talked of The Great Scheme of Things and Artistic Ambition
How we progress as artists and yet keep our feet on the ground. And my own artistic ambition. Not letters after my name, nor prize winning paintings... you'll have to read it to see what! 

Most controversial is tricky.  I don't aim to be controversial. I paint with love and feeling. 
Perhaps I shall give the title of this to The Diamond Roxy
Not because of any great controversy, but from the comments. Some of my arty friends showed how I could possibly improve and the owner of the dog leapt to the painting's defense saying she wouldn't change a thing. That's about as controversial as I get :) 

My most helpful post


was a recent one, Its All About Art . I had been to an art event in London and one of the artists there that I was talking to had free online lessons. I posted the link so that all my blogging friends who may not have access to classes could get some tuition online. 

a post who success surprised me was Jellyfish: Black and White
Its had more views in the last month than it had when I posted it! 

a post that didn't get the attention it deserved has to be one from when I first started blogging and I only had a few followers. 
Inspiration.. how Sowing the Seeds came to be

The original posts that Sandra and Prabal tagged me in were posted last week when we were in the throes of the first week of the kitchen rebuild.  I'm late, so I'm not tagging anyone. If you haven't participated and you'd like to look back over your own blog, please do copy the questions and post on your own blog.  Kind regards, Pat xx

Art in everyday life

Hello friends!

I have a real treat of a post today and some beautiful pictures.
I have a friend in blog land called Tonya from Hillbilly Handiworks.
You can see her blog HERE

I approached her to make some picnic sets for myself and my husband.
I knew she could make photo quilts, so I asked her if she could somehow make a photo picnic set, with a picture of each of our darling dogs in it.

She did it - and they arrived today!
My word, but they are beautiful. I love art that I can use as well as admire!

Tonya makes these from your own photo and she can make them any colour you want! They cost $20 each. (That's about £12 in sterling)
You aren't limited to dogs - you could have a photo of anything!

here they are

I should have waited to take pictures, so you could see them nice and flat, but I was too keen to show you all :)

And further in my parcel, was a surprise gift from my friend, Marie!
She had asked Tonya to make an arty gift for me.
This is a dual purpose roll - it holds my delicate brushes for doing fine work, to save them getting battered by the big brushes - and it also doubles up as a watercolour pencil holder! How neat is that!  I can't tell you what this cost, because it was a gift, but I'm sure if you contact Tonya, she'll quote you.
Here's my newest piece of art kit :)

Time to loosen up!

That's what my mummy said.. time to loosen up!

I'm trying to think what she means...

when suddenly she starts flicking paint all over the show!

What's that about, hey?

Mummy says she was very tight in the last painting, so she needs an exercise to loosen up - and this is it.

What do I think?  I think mummy needs to learn how to loosen up the way we dogs do :)

 Don't you agree ? :)

Trying out the abstract

A post or so back, I showed you a new book I'd bought, called Realistic Abstracts.

Its a step away from the usual art book I'd buy.
That's because it deals with abstraction - and there are no demonstrations in it!

That's right, no step-by-steps ! More, these are the elements of a realistic abstract, see how it works in these sample paintings.

I was attracted to some paintings, repelled by others. That I would imagine is perfectly normal.

So, we learn from this book that simplification is an important element. Removing all that is unnecessary clutter in a painting.  Then to give a suggestion of the subject.     

I really like this book - after the initial shock on no demos, it has given me rise to think!

So I've been practising, thinking and painting..  here we go with my realistic abstract journey... please feel free to comment whatever is in your heart..complimentary or not... I don't mind! This is all learning for me.

First, trying to show a candlestick and the woodturner's art.
I think perhaps I attempt too much on this effort!

Next, a very simplified scene - just colours to hint at shapes

thirdly, I tried to follow a photo in the book, because this one attracted me :)
This is the style of realistic abstract that I like so far..

Then I tried to simplify the Easter Island head I have in my garden.
It feels too "blocky" and severe for my liking, but I show it anyway. We learn from everything, yes?

and then, I painted this with no idea in my head. Just left some whites and then added colours in random shapes. When I finished and stood away from it, it surprised me to see a dog looking back at me.. as if I had disturbed it from sleep.

Lastly I took some bright colours - just three primaries and again left white spaces. This looks so bright and fresh and it puts me in mind of the artist Nil Catalano. Nowhere near as good as his work, but for a first, I am happy with it.

If you would like to follow Nil's blog, it is HERE

Today I am going to try my hand at a vase of flowers, and I will post the result tomorrow.