Who's the Driver Here, Anyway?

I just finished another Pet Portrait, this one of Richard & Duffy the Most Wonderful English Sheepdog!
The pair of them, going down the road with Duffy happily occupying this amazing replica Steib S-500 sidecar is a joy to behold!
I had a blast painting this, and was surprised to remember how much I enjoy painting chrome.
This was painted nearly completely in thin acrylic glazes as I have found that greys and blacks don't fare so well in watercolor glazes......even when completely dry when glazed with subsequent colors they tend to lift a bit and muck things up. The acrylics stay put in a lovely, well-behaved, acrylic way and one can glaze them over and over and the colors stay true and bright.
I have absolutely no idea what's what with all the motor-y bits on the motorcycle so if you know everything about motorcycles and see that I painted something that exists in my mind only and not on any real motorcycle, please be kind and don't tell.....smile instead at Duffy who happily appears to be the one driving here...... he IS larger than life, so actually it's the way it all really is!
I am offering this image as a print so if you'd like to purchase one of your very own, please see my Imagekind gallery........and if you'd like a portrait of your pet with or without yourself...or your vehicle in it, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Staffordshire Terriers, New Pet Portrait

Here is the finished portrait of Chico (laughing Brindle boy ) and Sadie (Fawn colored girl) as they are now, and Giuliana and Sebastian.....when they were children!
This was a most interesting portrait to paint....they all live in Australia and Giuliana, whom I have never met and who is now a grown-up, emailed me photos of herself and her brother as children, along with photos of her Staffordshire Terriers, Chico and Sadie...who are her dogs presently......oh and wearing clothes that she imagined would be fun....not the dogs, of course!
I loved being "found" in the ethers of cyberspace and then chosen to paint something so special to someone.......a lot of time and back and forthing went on looking for photos and piecing together sketches.
I love painting paintings that look like "real life" but are really completely imagined!
Thank you Giuliana and Kismet!

Illustration Friday-Impossible

Oh Hooray! Illustration Friday is such a wonderful way to post something when the reality is that one is sequestered away painting the two previously posted pet portraits...but they're not ready to show yet......I am still painting the backgrounds and may post them when they're halfway done but for now........I can post this:
while Spring is flirting with seedlings and apple blossom buds and little puffy clouds, full blown High Summer, ripe tomatoes and rampant blooming seems IMPOSSIBLE!

Looky, New Drawings....I CAN show

One of the things about illustrating most picture-books and also packaging and editorial/advertising projects is agreeing to those pesky non disclosure agreements, where you promise not to show your "work in progress" prior to publication.....so, if the projects involve 16 paintings and a L O N G period of time, a hapless illustrator is busy busy busy but can't play and show and tell.
So, how nice to have other projects at the same time to share!
Here are the drawings for two Pet Portraits that I am currently working on.

This portrait is for a woman in Australia, and shows her brother and herself as they were as children, with the the two Staffordshire Terriers she has now.....this was one of the most challenging drawings I've ever done for a portrait, as the heads, the bodies, the clothing all came from separate photos so it was like putting together a puzzle! Hooray,on to painting.

This one is the sketch for a portrait of Duffy, A Most Wonderful English Sheepdog who really rides along with his Person in the sidecar of the Person's motorcycle! It is a delight to see them traveling like this on the road! I have taken the liberty of enlarging Duffy a bit here but he really does wear goggles!
On to painting this one, too!
Stretched watercolor paper is dry, so now on to applying frisket,"Cool Blue Artist's Masking Fluid" isolating the figures so I can slosh paint onto the backgrounds....that's always the next step.
I'll post these again when they're further along.