Black Lab Commission

River, 12 x 16 inch, oil on linen

© 2013 Kathleen Coy

This was a really fun commissioned painting of a female black lab named River, from the client's reference photo taken in Colorado. I loved the colors of the landscape, and wanted to use them in the painting because they set off the dog so nicely. Here are some work-in-progress shots:

New Commission - Buster, an Australian Kelpie

Buster, 16 x 16 inch oil on linen.

© 2013 Kathleen Coy

Fresh off the easel is a commissioned painting of an Australian Kelpie named Buster. Would you look at that face! I fell in love with this pose, and those gorgeous eyes that stare right into your soul. It felt great to be painting large after a year of small paintings. (By the way, the year long project is over, so I'll be updating this blog much more frequently now.) I've included some photos of the process below. 

First I did a small value study, then I sketched Buster with vine charcoal on the 16 x 16" oil-primed linen panel. I like vine or willow charcoal because it erases off the canvas with the touch of your finger, so you can fiddle with the drawing until it's right. 

After I'm satisfied with the charcoal drawing, I go over it with a sanguine Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen (a little trick I learned from Terry Moore Strickland's blog), otherwise it will dissolve when I start laying in the first washes of thin paint:

Now to start on those eyes...

More progress:

And once again, the finished painting:

Next up is a portrait of Buster's black lab sister, River. Stay tuned...

Looking back at 2012

Shadow Walk 6, winner of the 2012 Edward Hopper House Small Matters of Great Importance show.

6 x 6 inch, oil on panel. © 2012 Kathleen Coy

Sold.

 Despite my best intentions, it hasn't been easy to find time to keep my studio blog up-to-date while painting every day and maintaining my daily painting blog, so I'll fill you in - it's been a very busy and exciting year - I started my painting-a-day project in April, and to date have painted 176 daily paintings, plus 21 additional paintings (mainly commissions and larger works). As my style developed, I felt confident enough to enter, and go on to win, the small works show at the Edward Hopper house in New York - a huge honor! I studied for a week with the incredible Karin Jurick at Hilton Head Island, and had a painting accepted into the Randy Higbee Gallery small works show in Costa Mesa, California this december, where my entry was purchased by one of their collectors. To top it all off, 66 of my paintings have sold this year. I feel incredibly blessed...

Steppin' Out, Randy Higbee Gallery 6 Squared show.

6 x 6 inch oil on panel, © 2012 Kathleen Coy

Sold.

Self-Portrait in Winter, 4 x 4 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

NFS. My first self-portrait. Read about it here.

To my friends, family, and supporters, your encouragement and kind words have meant the world, and help keep me going on days when the workload feels overwhelming. Your understanding of how focused I’ve had to be this year is much appreciated. It’s been a very stressful year in some ways, but it’s also been the best year of my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support, and I wish for a year of beauty, creativity, inspiration and joy for us all in 2013.

A Pair of Collies

Memory Oak Victory is Mine. Aka, Refund.
10 x 10 inch oil on linen, © 2012 Kathleen Coy

I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated this blog. I am posting five days a week on my daily painting blog, however, so if you haven't checked that out in a while, there are lots of goodies to be seen there.

Here are a pair of Collies I was commissioned to paint. Both highly accomplished show dogs. Since these boys are local, I had the pleasure of meeting them in person. I was immediately struck by their poise and good looks - they were like a pair of supermodels.

DreamHearts Golden Opportunity at Memory Oak, AKA Brodie. 
10 x 10" oil on linen, © 2012 Kathleen Coy

Both paintings are 10 x 10 inches, oil on Belgian linen.

New painting - Greyhound in the snow.

Bully in the Snow, 7 x 5 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

My daily painting practice is helping me develop a looser style that I like very much. I painted this little gem today for an upcoming auction for GALT - Greyhound Adoption League of Texas, a wonderful organization that does so much for greyhounds in need, providing medical care and foster homes for these beautiful, sensitive dogs.

Some of you may recognize this dog. It's Bully, of Bully'n Nelson fame. A big thank you to Bully's mom, for letting me paint her beautiful boy. I hope this painting raises much needed funds to help the hounds.

A Puppy Commission!

Ruth, 14 x 11 inch oil on linen panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

Yes, and not only a puppy commission, but a Rat Terrier puppy commission! This is Ruth, and she is four months old. What a face! This painting was so much fun, from her little name tag to her wee nose to the ornery look in her eye. I love it all.

Here are a few work in progress photos:

I hope you enjoyed this painting as much as I did! 

For more cute Rat Terrier art, there's a new painting of Cloud on my daily painting blog today:

http://katsdailypaintings.blogspot.com/2012/05/day-26.html

Much love,

Thank you! And more thoughts on the portrait of K

I am overwhelmed by the comments that were left on both my blog and KB's blog regarding K's portrait, Seize the Day. I appreciate each and every one of them, thank you all so much!

There were two comments posted on KB's blog post that I would like to share:

From houdstooth:

"...There are times when we all feel helpless as we watch someone we care about go through a difficult struggle. Being able to do "something" is the way a lot of people try to feel better about a situation they can't change. You and K have brought inspiration to so many people, I'm so glad that we could repay you in some small way for sharing her (and yourself) with all of us!"


Knowing that my art can be the "something" that makes people feel better and brings them together means the world to me. There is nothing more rewarding than that.


From TK and Squashies:

"KB,

This blog has always been a masterpiece. You have painted K's essence, with your amazing love, empathy, and prose.

How could we not know K's spirit?

To have the ability, the talent and the empathy to capture that spirit in a single image, is beyond my comprehension. But we I stand, spell-bound, in the presence of Kathleen's work.

When two great masters of perception come together- this is the result. I am humbled and honored to have been here to observe.

THANK YOU, to three great ladies for reminding me of what is important. And what is not."

This is exactly what happened. I had more than just a photo of a beautiful dog to work from. I had KB's entire blog to work from - I knew her hopes and fears, and K's moods and joy for life. I felt all of that weave itself effortlessly into the painting, and the video. It was a very humbling experience.

The blog community is just that - a community. And it's an honor to be a part of it.

Thank you everyone again for your kind comments. I wish I had time to visit each blog individually to thank you. 

Much love to you all,

Seize the Day

Seize the Day, 16 x 20 inch, oil on canvas

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

When I was commissioned for a surprise painting of K from the blog Romping and Rolling in the Rockies, I was truly honored. This inspiring blog is a favorite of mine for many reasons - the dogs, the scenery, the wildlife, and the heartfelt writing.

For those who don't know, K is a chocolate lab who reminds us about living in the moment and enjoying each day to the fullest, despite her frightening health concerns. (Animals are such great teachers!) The author of this beautifully written and fascinating blog shares her bittersweet journey with the world, and I appreciate her courage.

When I say it was an honor to paint K, I truly mean that. It was an honor to be thought of by the blog community to paint this gift, to know that I was chosen to create something with such meaning for her family. And I hope, along with all those involved with this surprise, that this painting will help to ease some of the pain and bring comfort to all who love K.

The painting shows K facing into the sunset, giving her fur a reddish glow that her human loves. The look on her face is pure K, and can be summed up by one phrase: Carpe Diem!!

I was inspired to make a pretty epic (for me) video of the process. I think the only thing missing is car chases and explosions. All kidding aside, I enjoy making these painting videos. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Be sure to have your speakers on!

Here's the direct link to the video: http://vimeo.com/40682331

Much love,

New project, a painting a day!

No posts since January doesn't mean I haven't been busy. I'll post some updates soon, but I wanted to let you know about a new project I've started - a painting a day for a year! WHY??? You can read about it on my new daily painting blog:

http://katsdailypaintings.blogspot.com/

I hope you'll follow along with me on the journey.

Much love,

New horse painting: Isis and Cerus

Isis and Cerus, 30 x 24" oil on canvas

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

I had so much fun painting these two beautiful horses. This pair is a mother and son, and the painting was commissioned by a new collector as a gift to his wife. I was told she cried for five minutes after opening it. I love hearing stories like that, it means a great deal to know that my work makes people happy.

This painting is fairly large, so I've included a few close up shots to show the detail and texture:

And if you'd like to see how the painting came to be, I've made a time lapse video of the progress. I hope you enjoy it!

Much love,

A Winter Doe for the Holidays

Winter Doe, 12 x 9" oil on linen

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

Here she is framed:

Wishing everyone a beautiful holiday season, with love and blessings in abundance in 2012!



Much love,

New Still Life - Lego dude!!

Desk Patrol, 5 x 7" oil on panel

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

I love quirky still life paintings, and had so much fun painting this Star Wars Lego dude! Look for more toy paintings from me in the future.

If anyone is interested in owning this little guy, he comes framed and is available in my etsy shop.

It's been a busy month, with two shows and finishing my big horse commission. I used google's task timer to keep track of the time the horse painting took and logged about 60 hours! I can't wait to post photos of it after the holidays.

I hope everyone is enjoying the season!

Much love,

A couple of cows

Sassy, 8 x 8 inch oil on panel

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

I'm working on a large commissioned piece right now of two horses. Unfortunately, no photos until after Christmas. You never know who's going to see what you post, and I would hate to ruin the surprise for my client.

But I can show you a couple of cows I painted recently. I found this cow in Oklahoma on a very windy day. (Aren't they all windy in Oklahoma??) I loved the way the wind blew the hair on the top of her head straight up. It makes her look like she has an attitude.

And the next one is a different sort of cow. I painted a still life of the Fisher Price Cow. It brings up so many good memories for me; the Fisher Price Farm was one of my all time favorite toys as a kid.

This is actually one of my favorite paintings I've done to date.

Fisher Price Cow, 8 x 6 inch, oil on linen

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

Hope you enjoyed them. I see more cow paintings in my future, because they are so much fun to paint!

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!

Reentry

I'm not sure what happened to my blogging frequency compared to previous years. Somewhere along the way I had days where it felt more like work than fun and I needed a break. And of course, when you get out of the habit of something, the longer you wait, the harder it is to start back up.

Facebook may be another culprit... it's so quick and easy to post pics and updates there. Question: Is facebook is making blogging obsolete? People seem to want quick info these days, and it can be hard to find time to read (and write!) long blog posts.

But in the end, blogs and facebook are two different animals. There's a lot I miss about the blogging world, and feel it's time to reenter.

Due to my lack of posts this year, it may look like I haven't been up to much, but in truth I've been pretty busy with my art. One of the things I've been having fun painting is still life's. Here's a still life I painted of some of my husband's pottery. Shino is a type of glaze.

Shino, 10 x 8 oil on linen

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

Here's another I painted at a friend's house. She made bronze castings of her face and turned them into art pieces around her home. I thought they were so cool!

Still Life with Cast Bronze, 8 x 8" oil on panel

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

I'm finding that still life paintings are a great exercise to really learn to see colors and form, and is a lot different than working from photos. I'm painting a couple small still life's a week as a way to keep improving my work. We'll see where it takes me.

Cloud is doing great. I can't believe he's 10 years old now. Here's a photo from this morning.