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Going with the flow. That’s an important part of my artistic process.

As you recall, I started a painting last week (see Monday and Tuesday’s postings) with a specific idea in mind – that being of my dog curled up asleep on a crocheted afghan. As the painting progressed, I began to fight with the amount of detail in the dog and in the blanket - I needed to find a balance that allowed the focal point to be the sleepy expression. I struggled with repainting and rubbing out and repainting and rubbing out until I was almost crosseyed.

Eventually I stopped fighting it, and allowed the blanket to recede into the background. I softened the patterning in the granny squares, and grayed down that bright apple green that I loved so much. I laid more violet down onto the dog’s mask, and that helped to pull him forward into the viewer’s lap a bit more, too.

There are still a few things I would like to change, but I simply ran out of time. I submitted the painting to the competition at 11:50pm last might, 10 minutes before the show deadline. Now it’s just a matter of waiting to see if the juror wants it – if so, it’ll stay as is. If I get rejected from the show, then that will be my excuse to lay back into the painting.

Go with the flow, right?

“Cat Nap (Finnigan),” 16” x 20”, acrylic pet portrait on canvasboard, not currently available. If this piece gets juried into the show, it will be framed and then offered through the event organizers. If not, like I said, I’ll be working on it some more.

Thanks, as always, for looking.
And for sharing these paintings with your friends and family,
Kim

Kimberly Kelly Santini
http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

http://www.paintingadogaday.com/
come. sit. stay.
enjoy the art.

Founding member of the Canine Art Guild
http://www.canineartguild.com/
the gateway to canine art on the web

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