FIRST LOOK at the End of July!

WORK IN PROGRESS!

Waiting At the Gates

10x10

oil on canvas

Carol Chretien

***

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.

***

Stay Tuned for the Finish work!

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO RESERVE THIS PAINTING

email me: carolchretien@aol.com

***

and look at what I posted on our ART HELPING ANIMALS BLOG:

"WILD NIGHTS In MOONLIGHT"

http://arthelpinganimals.blogspot.com/2009/07/wild-nights-in-moonlight-carol-chretien.html

Brand new WET PAINT!

Ta DAH!

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... Updates!

"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 been RESERVED 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!

As Free As the Birds - Update!

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 with 100% donation to help the Dals in rescue through TAMPA BAY DALMATIAN RESCUE!

One more session will finish this painting starring AnnaMae as my model.

STAY TUNED FOR AUCTION DETAILS!

FIRST LOOK! - Work in Progress 3 new ones!

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.

Wading in the Shallows - Completed!

I have completed this new oil that will help BONES rescue.

20% will be donated to help homeless Beagles.

This painting was RESERVED prior to completion at FIRST LOOK.

SOLD

Thanks go to Pam a BONES volunteer who keeps me in ideas that help rescue!

STAY TUNED! More work on the way!

Airedale Nocturne - First Look!

Finished this painting 12 x 12 oil on canvas and now available to help

NATIONAL AIREDALE RESCUE

20% will go to the org to help support their work.

The painting was inspired by images from the NARA library.

150.00

Free Shipping

just email me for an invoice.

Original oil.

carolchretien@aol.com

Update: The Explanation

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.

Update: Work in Progress for BONES

THIS PAINTING HAS BEEN RESERVED!

The second pass on this new painting for BONES beagle rescue.

I am layering in the colors to deepen the atmosphere and give more drama of this duo on the beach.

More detail coming for the dogs and reflections etc...so Stay Tuned for the finish.

thanks for looking!

Progress with Airedales!

" We'll Take The Window Seat "

soon to be finished for

NARA

airedale rescue with 20% to the charity.

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!

Stay Tuned.

Update! Finished Work...for TABBY's PLACE

" The Year of the Cat "

First in the series: SOLD

" THE QUEEN OF ALL I SURVEY"

from her perch on the window sill this feline is watching over her domaine.

the painting will sell to help

Tabby's Place

with 20% going to the rescue!

Thanks for helping me help homeless animals with art!

***

Stay tuned for more new work soon.

The Bare Bones - New Works In Progress

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!

We'll Take the Window Seat

The Explanation

Wading in the Shallows

FIRST LOOK! Miss January

" The Queen of All I Survey "

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:

carolchretien@aol.com and the first email received will have the painting.

The inspiration came from the photo library at Art Helping Animals with thanks.

Each painting in the series will be listed at 150.00.

20% of the sale will go directly to rescue to help

Tabby's Place A Cat Sanctuary

First Look! BLACK DOG ZEN

9x12

oil on canvas
Brady was my inspiration for this painting, he is the Black Lab of my friend Tracy.

He loves the beach as any Labrador does.

The minimal scape with the billowing clouds and waving dune grass lend a peaceful sensibility.

The black lab surveys the sea below.

This painting is available to help the dogs in final refuge care or senior foster care through

OLD DOG HAVEN

an Art Helping Animals supported rescue.

you can purchase this painting

20% goes to the rescue

SOLD

Black dogs are the hardest to find homes for and are a special favorite of Judith at

Old Dog Haven. visit their site http://www.olddoghaven.org/ for adoption info or to sponsor an needy dog in their care.

July 1st! Follow-up To WIPs...

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 NARA airedale rescue very soon.
STAY TUNED!

FIRST LOOK! - Those Golden Days

SOLD

DETAIL

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

150.00

***
thanks for helping homeless animals with art!

She's A Jersey Girl ...and she is adopted!

SOLD

She's A Jersey Girl

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!

Can you stand one more....WIP?

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!

FIRST LOOK!!! more new In Progress work....

SOLD

In My New Life There Will Be Gardens....



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.

Work In Progress - Retrievers

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.

LABRADOR ZEN

HAPPINESS IS A DAY AT THE BEACH
***

Thanks for looking!