Monday, June 28, 2010

Curly Flanks - Painting a Dog a Day by Kimberly Kelly Santini

"Curly Flanks," 8" x 10", Golden Open Acrylics on Ampersand Gessobord, $469 and headed home to the first one asking nicely. Inquiries (portraits start at $29 and make incredible gifts) may always come to me.

I love love love the abstract elements of this painting. Flip it in any direction, squint way down, and it's still beautiful.

I know it's been quiet - at the end of last week, I took a few days off to celebrate my brother's wedding. It was the perfect weekend with family (the Kelly family is a big and most excellent one) and old friends (also most excellent!). I returned to the studio refreshed and ready to paint.

However the painting bit didn't happen till later in the day - this morning was spent with a photographer and videographer from the press (I'll keep you posted on that!), mid-morning involved email responses (I'm still about 300 messages behind, but am working on them in the order received), and the afternoon was consumed with packing paintings to ship to their new homes.

Now I've gotten my paint fix and am off to finish a good book (Water for Elephants) - any suggestions for the next one I should read?

(PS this painting is of my friend's Curly Horses, taken last winter in the midst of much snow and zero humidity. A good place to "meditate" given today's weather.)

Thanks, as always, for looking at - and sharing - my artwork and musings with your friends and family.
Kim

TWITTER: ksantini
SHOP ORIGINALS & LIMITED EDITION GICLEES: at my Etsy shop
ORDER CUSTOMIZED NOTECARDS & REPRODUCTIONS: at Imagekind
COMMISSION A PET PORTRAIT: contact me
GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE: contact me
READING MATERIAL: Preview and order each of the Dog a Day books at the publisher's website: The First Year(2006-2007) and That's 14 in Dog Years(2008). If you would like your copy personalized, order them through me.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Painting a Dog a Day by Kimberly Kelly Santini


"Stretch (Paint Foal)," 6" x 8", acrylic on canvasboard, portrait of a young paint horse, $324 to the first to raise their hand. Inquiries (including booking your own pet portrait, from miniature size [4" x 4"] to larger than life) may always come to me.

This painting was inspired by a photo taken by equine photographer Juliet Harrison. She's got a tremendous eye for composition and light and I adore her work (I actually have several of her silver gelatin prints in the studio). You can imagine my excitement when she began sharing some of her photographs specifically to be used as reference photos for artwork (if you are interested, please visit the Equine Painter's Challenge blog and peruse the images she's uploaded).

This little one stole my heart, and my palette, leftover from yesterday's painting, already carried all the colors I needed. It was meant to be!

Painted in two sessions - an early morning and an evening stint - separated by an afternoon at the lake celebrating the beginning of summer vacation - this piece really sums up this time of year. Promise and youth and sunshine.

Good stuff!

Thanks, as always, for looking at - and sharing - my artwork and musings with your friends and family.
Kim

TWITTER: ksantini
SHOP ORIGINALS & LIMITED EDITION GICLEES: at my Etsy shop
ORDER CUSTOMIZED NOTECARDS & REPRODUCTIONS: at Imagekind
COMMISSION A PET PORTRAIT: contact me
GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE: contact me
READING MATERIAL: Preview and order each of the Dog a Day books at the publisher's website: The First Year (2006-2007) and That's 14 in Dog Years (2008). If you would like your copy personalized, order them through me

Thursday, June 10, 2010

A Mule A Day!



I have begun a series of mule paintings, a new one every day!


Come to my blog and see for youself how great these creatures are......from being comical, to serious, to lackadaisical, to......well you name it, they can do it all!


Come join the fun and become a follower and see what captured my heart so many years ago.




Thanks!


Sue

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

New Small Painting by Valarie Wolf

Just finished this 5" x 7" oil on panel, and had started to get 'fussy' with the horse on the left.   I went to the computer, printed out in huge letters the word 'Esscence' and reminded myself that it is indeed the essence of the horses that I wanted to portray.  From there it was rather smooth sailing.