Its been busy in the studio the last couple of days.
This is new on the easel...I had taken some great shots for reference of this white Chow Chow in bright kitchen light and knew there would come a time when I would want to paint him. His name is Bear...I painted him as part of a group portrait a few years ago.
I have always loved painting white animals or subjects in bright light for all the colors you can find in their reflected shadows.
When finished it will benefit homeless animals when it is sold.
Not sure how accurate the color is on any given computer screen but in reality this painting conveys the first light of Autumn...my favorite season.
It was painted with the impulse to create heat and light and interesting shadow patterns along with a "patterned" dog.
(Well let's be honest my Lizzie stood in as my model but I have added a different pattern than her own.)
Also the colors within shadows, their own interesting contribution from all the various light sources and bouncing reflections and then my own creative description as seen though my own artistic eye is brought together in a piece like this.
Then it begs the question of how does that translate on any given screen in digital mode?
***
My collectors (and you know who you are...) tell me that when they get the painting in their hands it looks "even better"....whew! that is a boon to me to know that.
We do what we can via cyberspace and digital photography but there is nothing like the original in YOUR light in YOUR hands.
I can say this as I look around the room at what hangs on my walls!
LOL
so...this painting is for
SAVE THE DALMATIANS
and the price is 125.00
and the shipping is
FREE
and you can purchase it here...it is NOT reserved!
20% or 25.00 of the Sale goes straight to the rescue
This first piece is the inspired by photos I took of a friend's dogs and this is the "blocking in stage" of the first pass. I will be offering this oil painting to help one of our Art Helping Animals supported rescues. This husky is so beautifully marked. She is a very shy girl and that gave me the working title:
SHADOW GIRL
RESERVED
~~~~~~~
FIRST LIGHT OF FALL
This new Dalmatian piece is all about temperature and seasonal color along with pattern and light.
I will list this one forSAVE THE DALMATIANSone of our Dalmatian rescues that Art Helping Animals supports through art sales. ~~~~~~~~
UP DATE ....
Adding pieces of the gate to this one .... designing as I go.
Will be adjusting here and there before it is done.
***
You have to enjoy the journey and not just the destination in creative projects.
I do enjoy sharing the process...hopefully you enjoy watching the paintings develop.
Started this week with one of our Art Helping Animals rescues in mind,
This little guy waits by the gate.
It could be perceived as a Rainbow Bridge piece but in reality I was interested in using the design of the "wrought iron" backdrop to off set the high value light and use the black in the dog to connect the two.
I have been having fun with backgrounds, the challenge being always to punch it up and not let it overpower.
You saw their beginnings...Here is the promised finish!
(scroll down through the blog to see the "befores" )
" As Free As The Birds"
8x10
oil on canvas with painted sides.
(AnnaMae is my model she is currently in foster care)
100% of the Auction proceeds will go to
DALMATIAN RESCUE OF TAMPA BAY!
details coming on their site!
***
" Fireside Dreams" Year of the Cat Series #2 representing February 12x12 Oil on Canvas w Painted sides SOLD 20% of the proceeds go to Friends of Bristol Animal Shelter *** and finally....
"Her World Is Silent, Her Dreams Are Not" Keller was my model and she is in foster care for DRTB 10x10 oil on gallery wrapped canvas SOLD 20% of the sale goes to DALMATIAN RESCUE OF TAMPA BAY! *** A note about painting for DRTB: they have a VERY ill Dal girl named Pheonix who is undergoing intensive healing, surgery and hopefully successful rehab. 2 of the paintings above were specifically painted to help with the finances. The TOP painting will be auctioned off with all proceeds benefitting the rescue. These rescue volunteers at DRTB are the best of the best and do work that goes above and beyond for these animals. At any time they also care for an average of 15 senior dalmatians in final refuge, giving them love and dignity to the last day of their lives. **** Thanks for looking and thanks for helping homeless animals with art!
All three paintings are done and drying as we speak. This frees up my easel to create new work! each of these paintings will help rescue. Stay Tuned!
"Year of the Cat" series is in progress...The 3rd painting in the series will be started soon.
I am in the process of deciding which cat I will choose for my model. It will be a cat up for adoption from TABBY's PLACE. The month of MARCH will be represented.
The first two are below.
" Fireside Dreams " has beenRESERVED and the donation will be going to
Friends of Bristol Animal Shelter. This painting will be finished soon.
" Fireside Dreams "
***
SOLD
" The Queen Of All She Surveys"
STAY TUNED for The BIG FINISH UPDATES this week... thanks so much for supporting homeless animals through art!
Here is Phase II and the title is: "As Free As The Birds" 8x10 oil on canvas.
The idea speaks to the feeling of freedom for the adoptables, to have their own family to love them for all their remaining days and not have to be taken away again. A lovely circumstance for sure!
This painting will be offered with100% donation to help the Dals in rescue through TAMPA BAY DALMATIAN RESCUE!
One more session will finish this painting starring AnnaMae as my model.
These next 3 pieces are on the easel. I have been busy. But not as busy as the rescues that I paint to help. There are an increasing amount of animals ending up in shelters and not in the nicest ways. Of course we want to save them all. We have to focus on what good we can do and just keep going forward.
One of my very favorite rescues is DAMATIAN RESCUE OF TAMPA BAY. They are good people working their fingers and hearts to the bone to get these animals saved. Not all are pure breds. Does that matter? No. I was inspired for this first one below by a photo of a mixed breed Dalmatian named "KELLER" who is a deaf girl in foster care. Available to be adopted! Visit their site for the info.
The painting is entitled: Her World Is Silent, Her Dreams Are Not
RESERVED
This second one is the second in the 12 painting series The Year of the Cat...this is February. It will be offered for Friends Of Bristol (RI) Animal Shelter. Right now there is an interested party who may reserve the painting so check back on that. The model who inspired this cozy scene is Sunshine...she was adopted.
The title is: Fireside Dreams Come True
Lastly this painting has the least amount of work done but will be a BIG WINNER...why you ask? Because this painting is for Dalmatian Rescue of Tampa Bay and it will be 100% donation to the rescue when sold. The model is AnnaMae and she is up for adoption being fostered by one of my heroes in FLORIDA, the dog magnet known to the street dogs as just "Jay" the painting will be auctioned with All proceeds to the rescue. They are swamped in dogs right now and not simple shampoo and feed a bit and find a home...but serious health issues, expensive ones. So...
Stay tuned for the finish of these paintings I will update and we will keep on painting for homeless animals hoping to do the best we can to help in this imperfect world.
The painting was finished and posted and SOLD to help True Blue Rescue. I was telling my artist friends at The Art Colony that I really did identify with the relationship of this little girl in the painting. I had a dalmatian that was my best friend when I was her age. We
spent a lot of time together and she was so loved. We enjoyed many long talks together.
It is a magical time between children and their dogs.
True Blue Rescue is in Texas and helps many different types of animals find loving homes.
I am having so much fun with this painting. It is because it makes me remember making art as a kid. It was of course my favorite past time and it was so much fun to have the freedom to color and draw and paint whatever I wanted to. That is what it is like painting for the rescues.
You just let your imagination take you to color filled places.
I still have some corrections and need to add some details but it will be finished pretty soon.
***
If you are interested in reserving this painting before it is listed for sale please email!
The next three images are here to show you the very first pass or ugly stage of newest works on the easel. They will all be offered for our Art Helping Animals supported rescues... NARA, TBAR, & BONES respectively. STAY TUNED for the finish and see how they turn out!
I love to see where they will take me as I paint them...it is sometimes even a surprise to me. LOL!
Closing in on the finish to this WIP started last week. Just a few details to do and if you would like to reserve this First in the 12 Cat series "The Year of the Cat" ....12 x 12 format oil on canvas the painting continues around the sides for frameless display or you can frame, whatever your preference.....before I offer it for sale ...just email me at:
Both of these paintings are finished and have SOLD. In both cases they sold before I could officially list them (reserved from First Look) and the rescue that benefitted was WILLING HEARTS DALMATIAN RESCUE, an official Art Helping Animals supported charity.
An additional donation went out to Montgomery Humane Society as thanks for the use of the ref image of the Dal puppy in foster care who inspired the painting "The Little Dipper."
Both of these models were once abandoned Dalmatians who now live in wonderful loving homes.
The Little Dipper
(Cole Edward)
My New Life Will Have Gardens (Oreo) *** My approach to using reference images for paintings for rescue is always interesting to me. I often have no plan to do a particular painting and then I see a photo (especially of a homeless animal) and it justs suggests a scene, a feeling or a moment in time that I can create around it. Sometimes people send me images and give me permission to use them if & when the inspiration strikes me. I just never know when it will click. The painting above of Oreo, a dalmatian recently rescued and starting Foster Care, getting him ready for his forever home, was one of a series of images that showed his first day in a home. Oreo never made it as a foster dog...he was adopted by the family who wanted to foster him! The image of him tired and resting in the back seat of their car on the first day just suggested the painting above to me. While it was not a dead-0n portrait of Oreo, the ref image gave me the information to translate into the finished work. The background is completely from my imagination and it gave me the title. *** thanks for stopping by...I will be adding the updates of the other Work in Progress paintings soon. I have 2 new Labrador Retriever paintings swirling in my mind and will be doing something new for Dalmatian Rescue of Tampa Bay and NARAairedale rescue very soon. STAY TUNED!
THOSE GOLDEN DAYS 12x12 oil on canvas CAROL CHRETIEN *** This is the update of one of the latest paintings for rescue. I have finally been able to work on the ones I started last week. I have been painting beach scenes in hopes of the sunshine returning to our New England area. We have some today and it is glorious. The same feeling as the expression and smile of this dog at the beach. the model was Mattie Mae a friend of Art Helping Animals artist Stella Violano. She was my inspiration for the work. I love her happy face. *** It is listed to help HSUS NRRO that is to say: The Humane Society of the United States the NORTHERN ROCKIES REGIONAL OFFICE one of our official Art Helping Animals supported rescues. 20% to the rescue
I was planning on listing this painting as finally completed and now available... In the meantime it sold. The BEST NEWS is she was adopted after I had decided to paint her, coincidence?
I had a run on beagle adoptions from BONES a while back where they got adopted as I was painting away! LOL I was a lucky charm they said! :o)
I did something different for this painting...I did a study of the painting first. In actuality...I started it, got into it and then noticed a big defect in the weave of the canvas that was not something I would sell to anyone. But I went ahead and finished the first draft (not for sale!) I almost never to preliminary drawings...sometimes a few "thumbnail sketches to work out the composition...but never a pre-painting a painting, it is just not my way.
What I learned from that unexpected exercise was painting Tori Jem the second time was really much easier. I knew her by then. I also enlarged the canvas size and pushed her back so you could see more of her and widened the view of the ocean. So it was a great lesson.
I know many artists practice this regularly but painting small pieces for charity usually is pretty straight forward and I dive right into the piece always starting with the eyes.
Today this piece sold for charity but I did want to show it finished. Now if the other in-progress paintings in my studio could just dry a bit....I could finish a few more!
Donation to GREYHOUND FRIENDS OF NEW JERSEY honoring Tori Jem is on the way as promised!
Are you wondering why I am posting so many Works In Progress??? Are you asking yourselves "Will she finish any of these paintings?" "Will the rain and damp ever stop?" "Will her paintings ever dry?"
This is the first of a NEW SERIES ... The Year of the Cat...(Love that song by Al Stewart) ...there will be 12 paintings in the 12x12 format of Oil on Canvas. Gallery wrapped and the sides are painted for the choice of no frame needed. The painting will continue around the sides. This first piece is JANUARY. No title yet. The cat is based on an image of one of the reference pets from our ART HELPING ANIMALS private reference albums. It was my starting point every painting will have a scene built around the Cat I choose for the painting. My imagination has free reign in this series. If you would like to reserve the purchase of any of the paintings on the easel before I list them to the public for sale ...ALL WITH A 20% DONATION TO RESCUE...just email me at carolchretien@aol.com anytime.
SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW THE OTHERS....
STAY TUNED FOR THE COMPLETIONS ON ALL OF THE WIPS!
Oreo was in rescue, then the plan was foster care until that special "forever home" could be found...but the foster family fell in love with Oreo and now that SPECIAL home is found.
At the end of the long first day Oreo's new "mom" took a picture of him in the back seat of the car ...just wiped out, dozing. That image inspired the painting above with permission to use it for my painting that will benefit WILLING HEARTS DALMATIAN RESCUE.
While it is not a dead on portrait of Oreo the idea was in the pose. He will have beautiful dreams now that he is loved forever!
STAY TUNED...when it is finished I will post it for sale with all the details. For now I will dream of gardens with him. UPDATE: this painting was reserved and SOLD. Donation has been made to Willing Hearts Dalmatian Rescue.
Two new seascapes with two different Retrievers...started today you are seeing the first pass in these oils. It is the foundation of the painting and it helps get it started. With all the rain and cold we have had in New England this spring I have been drawn to create sunny scapes. Drying times for my oils have been extremely slow with the near 100% humidity. I need to keep starting new work while waiting for drying time between layers. What I like about that is that it gives me something to work on while I wait. Shipping times are lengthened when sold, however.
STAY TUNED for the finish and eventual listing of these for our Art Helping Animals rescues.
Meet Cole Edward he inspired the painting of a Dal puppy out exploring the environment and putting his paws into a little pond. Actually his beautiful blue eyes are the real treasure.
Blue eyes in some animals, and often in Dalmatians, may signify deafness. Cole Edward was recently adopted and his foster/ rescuer shared the story with me. He was originally named "Spike" by his first family and has been renamed for his new life:
"Spike's background is that he was given up to our local shelter due the family not having enough time for him, saying he was hyper and not trainable. After a few days in the shelter, he came to us for socialization and training so he could be an adoptable loving pet. After about an hour at our home, we found out he was deaf. He also came with demodex mange that took one month of treatments to get rid of. Smartie pants that he is, he learned signs very quickly and loved being around people, kids and other dogs. Before being adopted, we also found out he has a genetic problem with the formation of his teeth which will eventually cause them to fall out. Luckily, the adoptive family regardless of his flaws still wanted him as a pet of their own. He is very happy and healthy and should live out a great life in his new forever home."
Cole Edward will be living in a family with other Dalmatians so his new family is experienced with Dals. However this is their first deaf puppy, I do believe, and they are eager to make it a successful adoption so he is in training.
I would venture a guess that he was a "pet shop pup" or in other words a "puppy mill puppy. That is just an educated guess. Responsible Dalmatian breeders have hearing tests performed on their puppy litters. BAER testing is done on dalmatian puppies at 4 weeks of age. Many times a breeder will have a unilaterally deaf puppy ( deaf in one ear) and those pups do quite well in life. They will be spayed or neutered so as not to continue the deaf trait and will make wonderful pets. People would not even be aware of their hearing deficit. Deaf pups have special needs for training with hand signals, vibration, flashing lights. Dals are very smart, they learn quickly with a patient and consistant teacher, they do very well with time and attention. Living with hearing dogs and being one of the pack helps too. A secure fenced yard is mandatory (and in my opinion should be for all dogs) and supervision is essential. In the case of dogs we have had in our lives (dals of course) they do not like being left out alone and would rather be with you for company anyway. They are loving dogs who are natural born entertainers.
The reference image was provided by his foster mom and a donation was given to the Montgomery County Humane Shelter as my thanks. http://www.mchumane.org/
The painting will provide a donation to our ART HELPING ANIMALS supported rescue WILLING HEARTS DALMATIAN RESCUE. 20% donation goes to the org. The sale is pending.
This new beagle painting will be the second recent oil that I am working on to benefit
BEAGLES OF NEW ENGLAND STATES
(BONES)
rescue.
This is the very beginning of the piece.
With our very damp weather lately I have to have a few different things to work on as drying times are so slow.
What better way to work than to visit our rescues and get inspired by their dogs!
The 3 models here are all rescued BEAGLES the youngest being "Percy" who I had the pleasure of painting some months ago before his adoption!
Inspired by the idea of 3 beagles running around together in their yard I thought it funny that of all the places to play they have to be right IN the middle of the plants.
it is a fun piece with a dramatic background and bright sun on our subjects in the foreground.
NEWEST work for BONES RESCUE... painting animals awaiting adoption for
ART HELPING ANIMALS
ANCHOR'S AWEIGH!
8x10
oil on canvas
CAROL CHRETIEN
20% goes right to BONES to help with his fostering.
"ANCHOR" was my model...he is a 4 yr old beagle boy waiting for that home of his own. The painting is painted in a fresh style of wet-in-wet oils
there is a thickness and movement to the paint.
It is not just a copy of a photo. The painting is inspired by the animal in need and the setting is my own fabrication (and years of first hand beach study from many happy summers!) a place where a dog loves to be...beagles are no exception and you just can't take the New Englander out of me!
About Anchor:
He is AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION!
He is Good with dogs
Good with kids over 6, not sure with cats His Favorite Things: Squeaky toys and playing ball.
As yet untitled.
