Old Hopeful, portrait of a dog, begging for treats.

Here's to high hopes! Look at this guy. His cheek is full of treats he's gathered, and he's hoping to get at least one more!  

I don't always use my own reference photos, this was painted using a photo that Karen Broemmelsick took with her camera. Using her photo, I kind of exaggerated the size of the ears, and the size of the muzzle to create this dog.

Her photo was wonderful, the expression in the dog's eyes was worth a million bucks! Thank you Karen for making your photo available in the photos for artists group on Facebook.

Sincerely,

Donna Ridgway

Buster a dog art painting!

Buster

I'm doing chores for my neighbor while she helps her family harvest their grain.  I've been doing her chores for the last two weeks.  I love her animals.  She spends so much time with them, that they seem human most of the time!  This is one of her dogs.  I had so much fun painting him like this!

This painting is 6X6 inches in size, and done with acrylic paints.

On another subject, it's fire season in Montana.  A large fire has blown up in bug kill areas in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.  You can bet that fire will be burning way into fall unless it rains real hard!   This fire is in a remote area where fire wouldn't be fought anyway, but most of the fires could be put out when they are small and the trees saved.  It breaks my heart the fires are allowed to burn.  The timber is completely wasted.  That is timber that could become homes for many people.  Logging has come a long way since timber was clear cut, and logging could save and rejuvenate our forests, all the time giving people jobs.

Think of all the small animals that are killed in fires...any one who's young, or old, or trapped, will burn a horrible death.  I don't like forest fires....

Donna Ridgway

The Darn Dog!

I wiped out his eye and started over with it. This is a pretty funky painting, but I'm calling it done and moving along to another one. I just can't stand to quit on one...

There are some things I could go in and fix...I'm staring at them now. But I guess I'll leave them. It's time to start another one!
Donna Ridgway

Labrador, second installment, WIP

Photo I'm working on for this project. This photo is not one of my own, I found it on an artist challenge project in a forum I frequent. I'd credit the author, but they didn't list their name. When my painting is finished, I'll be posting it in the challenge results.
Here we are again.

I have discovered reasons I love to paint and I'm only in the second day of this experiment. The experiment is- After a summers vacation, of taking photos only, I want to know if I'd like to continue painting and taking photos, or go to photography completely and forget the painting.

Reason number one for me to continue painting is this: When I woke up at 5 am, I immediately remembered this painting was sitting on my desk, ready for some more paint! Painting gives me a good reason to get up. I don't lay there and waste an hour, waiting for daylight. As winter approaches, I'll have even more hours to paint before daylight arrives.

Reason number two: The funny things that happen when you're painting.... For example, I layered burnt sienna over this dog, then hit it with the hair dryer and a long brown booger ran out of the dog's nose and across the rest of the painting. Now that was funny. You might have to click the image above and see a larger version to get the full effect.

Reason number three: In 20 minutes time, I've drawn my dog, and even though it has rough spots, it looks like a dog. One of my most fun reasons to paint...to take raw materials, and create something that wasn't there before.

Reason number four: In 20 minutes time, my dog is complete with shadows, and light, form and shape, and the beginnings of personality. I've corrected the placement of his eye, and corrected the angle of his nose-need to do more work on the nose..... I've noticed his forehead is wrong and will be working on that next. I'm totally involved in the process of painting. The painting has taken on a life of it's own, and it's telling me what it wants me to do next. I absolutely love the feeling this painting has created inside of me.

Reason number five: Even though I work from photos, I draw the image myself. I begin on a plain white sheet of paper, and draw with my paint brush. It's so hard to explain the connection I feel between the image and the end of my paint brush, but there's an incredible pull from the image, directing my lines onto the paper, it's like I'm not doing this myself, but I'm pulled into the process. It isn't a push, or a nod, or a bump, it's a strong, steady pull, from the subject to the end of my brush.

I've painted animals from life, and although the process is fun, I don't enjoy it like I enjoy working from a photo. I don't want to have to worry about what the animal is doing next and try to imagine how they looked in the preceding five seconds.

And taking the photo itself is part of the process. When I'm taking photos of an animal, I get to know who that particular animal is...I see if he's funny, or smart, or kind of dumb and clutzy.

I like taking the photo that best captures his personality and habits.

Reason number six: There's something about painting that takes the photo one step further. The photo requires a mechanized process and a type of machine (for better words) to make the image happen. But the painting is "MINE"! No other person could copy this painting exactly as I painted it. Look at all the work around this country that's copied, the copy never looks exactly like the original.

You can go to an art class, where 30 artists in the class are working from the same photo, and no two paintings will look exactly alike. When I post this image to the forum, it won't look like all the other paintings the rest of the artists will paint.

So, you can see, I've discovered my photos and paintings are both part of my process. I guess I'll keep doing both. If I find more reasons I like to paint animals, I'll post them in my next post.

Remember, you can feel free to leave a comment before you go! Perhaps something I've posted has got you thinking....

Perhaps you don't agree with something I've said....

Maybe you'd like to take some art lessons, and try this yourself. If so, don't be afraid, jump right in and do it! The feelings you receive while you're painting are worth it. Let me know, and I'll help you get started.

Maybe you're painting and wonder why you do it! I'd like to hear the reasons you continue....
Donna Ridgway

Email Me if you have questions, or want to inquire about purchasing a painting.

Remember, you can find horse art , Western art, Mule and Donkey art
wildlife art, cow art, and animal paintings. My reference photos are for sale on my website.

Painting of a lab, beginning sketch.

Here's my first 10 minutes on this drawing of a lab. I haven't touched a brush to water since spring, so who knows how many changes I'll have to make before this actually looks like a dog.

I did think I should end my "vacation" and get back to work. I can't believe I've gone this long without painting something. It isn't natural!

I've gone without painting when I was doctoring sick animals, or had sick babies, or when I was packing irrigation pipes, and haying, but I've never not painted because I had no interest in it before. It's always been my life. So this is an experiment to see if I still "like" painting or not. Maybe it's way more fun to take photos and have an instant image, than it is to struggle along painting.

What do you think-why bother to paint or draw, when you can capture the image in a photograph? Is it worth it to paint an image, when it's all ready been captured by a camera?

There's something inside me that likes the process of smushing paint on a surface and trying to make it look like something real. But I wonder what is the purpose of it? Ideally, I'd love to paint something another person would love to own. I'd like them to want it so badly, they'd purchase it. Then I could buy more supplies and paint another picture!

I have some weird thoughts going through my mind tonight. I guess I'll stop painting now and go watch "Walk the Line".
Donna

Watercolor painting of a dog. WIP

I've started this painting of a dog. He's probably a "mutt". Those are my favorite dogs. No special breeding, no big pedigrees, just a wonderful, happy dog, who belongs to someone who loves him!

We found this dog in Cascade, Montana...stopped to visit his owner, and while the guys were talking, I asked if I could take pictures of the guys dog. Don't know his name, he was a stranger, but I liked his happy dog.

I'll update this as I go along.
Donna Ridgway

Email Meif you have questions, or want to inquire about purchasing a painting.

Remember, you can find horse art, Western art, Mule and Donkey art
wildlife art, cow art, and animal paintings, my Montana Photosfor sale on my website.

A dog painting.

I was on a roll today, so I kept on painting. I kind of liked this little guy when I finished him. We saw him in a pickup in Choteau, and I asked his owner if I could photograph her dog. She was tickled I'd asked her and said, "Sure!" Wish she could see this and tell me if it looks like her dog, but I have no idea who she was! I guess I should remember to ask next time.
donna
Remember, you can find horse art, wildlife art, cow art, and animal paintings, for sale on my website.
My Ebay

Boston

I think this one is finished. It's 7X9.5. I named it Boston. I liked the transition between organic form and graphic form. It was fun to do.

More Dog Art on my website. Any painting can be purchased by emailing me at montanahorse gallery@earthlink.net...This painting is for sale for $100. You can make me an offer on it, or trade me for something of equal value, if it's something I can use. :)

There's cow art on my website, wildlife art, and some silly critters too.
Thanks for stopping by!
donna

Black and white dog, 2

I've been building and layering colors. I like to glaze acrylics over each other to build depth and texture on a painting . My scanner doesn't scan these with anything like the bright colors they really have.

There's more dog art on my website.
Don't forget to sign up to have these paintings whisked to your inbox!
donna

Newfoundland OSWOA Card

When we were at the Sun Canyon Lodge, west of Augusta, this weekend, we saw a Newfoundland dog in the back of a pickup. He was about the happiest looking dog I've ever seen and I worked on this painting of him today.

His tongue looks wild in the scan but it isn't that bright on the painting, I don't know why. Some things just don't scan like you wish they would! :)

This is an OSWOA card, an original small work of art, 6X4 inches in size. I hope I caught something of the happy personality this dog had. What I didn't catch, was the way he slobbered all over himself. I had a Great Pyrenese once, she slobbered like that also. It's just a trait of these dogs. I spared you that in the painting. :)

As always, if you'd like to see more paintings of horses and dogs, or Montana scenery, feel free to explore my website. I'll be posting this dog on ebay when the painting dries. It's an oil painting on canvas so it's going to take a while.
donna

Shearing Time is Here, sheep painting.

I wanted to do "fuzzy" so I painted this sheep. I used her for a warm up exercise. She isn't some great painting, she's just for fun.

Same with the dog, I'll be working on it today and maybe finish him, he isn't drawn correctly yet, he's still looking funny. So I gotta fix that. I might have to draw him all over again and make him smaller so he fits the canvas better. I get carried away sometimes!

Thanks for stopping by my blog and have a great day! :)
donna

Back Seat Drivers. Dog Oil Painting.

What fun. We saw these little yappers in Helena one day at Dairy Queen. They were so bored, waiting for their master to come out of the restaurant.

Still have a few things to do to this. Like add the window reflections. I think I'll wait until this is dry to do that. Maybe a few car reflections, but for the most part, it's done.
Donna

Loneliest Lonesome, WIP 2, Dog painting.

I'm now using a lot of turpentine on my brush and drawing in the details of the dog into the thin layer of paint that was on the canvas. This painting is 16X20 so it's fairly large. You can see it isn't quite square to the picture plane as it tips back on my easel where I took these pictures.

My new studio has nice large windows so I can take photos of large paintings inside. I used to have to take them out. It's blizzarding, really cold, and snowing today so I wouldn't be able to take photos of paintings outside.... It's nice to have the studio!

Each stage of the painting becomes more like a real dog. At least I hope it does! :) I don't like drawing with a pencil as good as I like drawing with a paint brush so I draw the image right on the painting.
Donna

The Loneliest Lonesome. Canine art. Dog

I'm showing another painting as a work in progress. I got up at 5 am and went to my new studio to paint. The wood stove had the studio all warmed up as the fire lasted all night long. It was so nice!

A while back, we went toward Cut Bank, Montana on a photo shoot, and drove through Shelby on our way home. As we were cruising around the outskirts of town, looking for photos that I could turn into paintings, we saw this dog tied to the side of a trailer house. He was howling with lonesomeness and it broke my heart.

Of course I had to paint him. You see so many dogs tied to a spot where they're left in loneliness, until the dirt is beat smooth around them. They have no dog house for cold weather, no human comfort and sometimes I wonder how much they get fed. I can't bear to see this but I thought if I painted it, it might help people to remember their pets.

Another reason for painting this right now. We're inundated with stray cats. In our neighborhood, when people don't want to feed their animals, they turn them out to fend for themselves. We've had cats coming into our house at night through the cat door to eat. If they'd eat and leave, I wouldn't care so much, but some of them came in, marked the house with spray, then left. It was a nightmare to clean up and expensive too.

So now our cat door is locked and I'm feeding the strays outside. By spring, we'll have a dozen cats I'm feeding, I suppose. I guess we'll take them to the pound as our own two cats are all we want. I feel so sorry for them, I can't stand watching them as they search for food.

Anyway, this is the first bunch of paint on the canvas for this painting. I throw some paint on there and move it around with lots of turpentine until I have the shape of the animal I'm painting.
Donna