It's been a few days!

What a beautiful day it is here in North Carolina.
The sun is shining, it's somewhat warm, and it's Friday! We don't always stop to
appreciate those little things. Even though I haven't posted
every day here, I'm still faithful holding to my goal of a painting
a day. Oh I might do two one day and none the next.But it's adding
up slowly. I love painting the santa's with the dogs and will probably
do more of those, but they do take more time to complete.
The old world charm of that santa face is fun to watch evolve.
I have to thank my very good and dear friend, Hellen Martin of
Grapevine, TX for teaching and helping me learn to paint the santa.
Even though we've never met in person, we've been friends for over 4 yrs
now I think. She a super talented artists in her own right.
You should visit her website: www.paintingsbyhellen.com when you get a chance.

A few more completed

Here it is a Monday again! I'm proud to say I've accomplished a lot
with my painting over the weekend. Never as much as I would like to.
I'm enjoying painting on the watercolor paper I have, but I think it
might be best to find a more sturdy surface for my portraits.
I'm not sure why I wanted to do a santa this weekend, but I think another
one won't be far behind. This one features a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
dedicated to a friend of mine who owns a precious one like this.
The Schnauzer is also inspired by another friend who owns two of these
smart dogs.

I cringe at the thought of a new breed

I'm really proud of this latest painting of the little Maltese.
How cool is he wearing those sunglasses???

I know, I know-one shouldn't be afraid to try new things. But with
me, painting a new breed of dog absolutely frightens me to death.
I did really well this past fall trying any breed someone would ask for.
I tried to just block the fear out. But now, it's slowly coming back.
Why is it that some artists are so lacking in self-confidence?
I hope to work through this fear as time and practice goes on.

I would really love to come up with a Christmas design incorporating
dogs as well. I love painting santa claus so I'm sure it will have him
in there somewhere too.

Monday's News

I'm still very motivated to sticking to my goals for the year.
I believe I have failed to let anyone know that as I paint a new
portrait, I'm also making some really cute pendants out of them.
So I can have prints available and also pendants. I call the pendants,
Pawtrait Pendants-thought that was so cute. I have begun listing them
on ebay and etsy. Hopefully I will also get them on my website soon. I'm also
posting a photo here to give you an idea of what I'm doing.
Until next time, have a blessed day!

Here are a couple of recently completed "Pawtraits."

What about those eyes?

I'm sticking to my goal so far, with a painting a day. They say if you do
something 21 days in a row it becomes habit. We will see. Here I have finished
this sweet Dachshund painting. I still feel I have a long way to go to be
where I'd like to be. I'm my worst critic I suppose. But I do love to see how
they turn out. I hope to get a line of unique gifts made for the next holiday
season. I've opened a store at: http://www.zazzle.com/TRBrown
but I am also making a few things on my own with the images. Hopefully will get
my ebay store back in action soon.

My first blog entry

Okay, I've started blogging, like many other artists I hope it will help share my love of
art and animals. I've been in love with art and animals all my life. I don't feel I'm one of those
natural artists who can just sit and paint while looking at something or out of their imagination.
I truly have to work at it, but it's something I love so much I want to keep getting better and
better. I've painted on many surfaces throughout my journey, and at present am painting
on heavy watercolor paper.
Above is one of my recently completed paintings. I hope to at least
stay on track of a painting a day (most days!)

You can also see some of my past works at: www.gourdsfromthegarden.net