Puppy

Painted a puppy portrait today.  I realized I haven't painted that many dogs, so I thought I'd rectify that.  I'm going to do a series of small 6x6" paintings of a variety of animals, starting with a few different breeds of dog.  Makes me miss having a dog of my own, but with four kitties, the idea of introducing a puppy to the family is a little daunting!

Labrador Puppy - 6x6"

More Bunnies

Painted two more bunny paintings.  I'm going to move on to painting other critters for a while.  Love the bunnies, though, so they won't be the last.

Bunny 7 - 6x6"

Bunny 8 - 6x6"

Bunnies

I painted some bunny portraits a year or two ago to donate to the Potter League Animal Shelter for their annual silent auction and fundraiser, and decided to paint some more this week to sell on my Etsy site.  I think I enjoy painting bunnies almost as much as I enjoy painting cats.  I love their big liquid eyes, and their soft coats.  Actually, their fur is quite tricky to paint in any kind of detail.  It has such depth of color.  I have to do several layers of paint to achieve the right affect, building up their coats bit by bit, so a small 6x6" painting, which these are, takes several hours.  I plan to do several more.

Bunny 5 - 6x6"

Bunny 6 - 6x6"

Back to Horseneck Beach

Painted another scene from Horseneck Beach in Westport today.  Just a little 6x6" painting of the dunes.  Now that it's warmed up, I'm in the mood again for summery beach scenes, so I may do a few more.  Hopefully I'll go back to Cape Cod this summer, too, and get even more images to paint.

Horseneck Beach III - 6x6"

Kitty Portraits

Finally dropped off the kitty portraits commissioned by my local veterinary office today, which they were pretty happy with.  They certainly add a pop of color to the room!  They'd also asked me to hang them, so I did that, too.  I just eyeballed it, but I had the exam table to help as a guide, which I used to center the middle paintings.  They look pretty good in a group, if I do say so myself.  Their resident kitties, Higgins and Guiness, were hung separately, but in the same room.

If you're interested in a pet portrait of your own four-legged friend, you can email me, or check out my new Etsy shop at PJRenwickFineArt.

Kitties

A little black and white montage of the kitties I painted for my local veterinary practice.  Will probably be hanging them on Friday.  The last kitty painted was 19 year old Guiness, a black kitty who lives at the vet's office.  He was looking a bit frail, as kitties tend to do at that age, so I gave him a face lift, so to speak - unclouded his eyes, smoothed his fur, gave his face a bit more padding.  I'm looking forward to the reaction of the staff when I take them down there.  To be honest, though, I'll actually miss the paintings when they're gone.  I like seeing their faces every day in my studio.

From the top, left to right: Tigger, Wylee, Penny, Guiness, Theo, Whitey, Tony and Higgins

Tickets

Tickets - 20x20"

Started a new painting today, a scene from the little carnival that visits Newport every spring.  I've gone almost every year to wander around and take photos.  I like to people watch, see the teenagers checking each other out, listen to them scream as they get spun upside down and around and around on the hair-raising rides that I would never dare get on.  (The ferris wheel is enough of a thrill for me, especially when they stop the ride while you're sitting at the top, and leave you swinging in the breeze!)

I painted a few scenes from the carnival back in 2010, mostly a few close-ups of the food stalls.  This time around I spotted the ticket booth with the flags flapping in the breeze, and immediately saw a painting in the making.  I loved the sharp shadows, the feeling of bright sunshine and heat.  I still have a lot of work to do, especially on Zipper ride, which is rather complex.  I'm itching to finish it.  Until I do, I won't be happy.

Interior Spaces

I've also been working on a series of interiors for a show I'm having later in the year at Gallery Ellipsis in Newport.  One of these paintings is of the People's Cafe on Thames Street in Newport, which I've shown here.  I decided to keep to interiors from Aquidneck Island, which has also included, so far, Jane Pickens Theatre and even Shaws supermarket.  (I'm not a snob when it comes to subject matter!)  I have to admit, though, I do prefer to paint more architecturally interesting subjects, such as Jane Pickens, especially as I'm a bit of a movie fanatic and I love old theatres, but sometimes painting ordinary subjects can make them more interesting, or at least I hope so.

"People's Cafe" - 24x24"

Kittypalooza

Have been working on a few projects over the winter, but my latest involves a lot of kitties.  My local veterinary practice commissioned me to do a small grouping of kitty paintings for their cat exam room.  I love animals, so it's been fantastic to paint what I love most.  Unlike dogs, cats generally have the same shape, but each one is unique, and I've learnt so much about their faces.  If possible, I've come to appreciate their beauty and individuality even more.  Here are three of the portraits.  All but two of the cats, who are resident kitties at the vet's office, are rescue cats from the Potter League, our fantastic local no-kill animal shelter, who I hope have long since been adopted into good homes.  The three shown here are Potter cats.

"Penny" - 8x8"

"Tigger" - 8x8"

"Wylee" - 8x8"