Animal Portraits

This past Christmas, I only had a few gifts to give and very little money. The one thing about staying home with baby is that you don't have lots of extra cash for spending on anything you want! 

So I had to get more creative with gift giving. 

My friend/brother-in-law(ish) had gotten a beautiful Shiba Inu pup last year, and was completely enamored by her. So I wanted to create something for him with Yoshi as my subject. That's when I dug out my watercolors and brushes!

Yoshi, the Shiba Inu

Elie and I went over to visit, and I took a few pictures with my phone, kind of secretly, so he had no idea what I was doing... so they were a little blurry, or not composed really well. But I just needed the visual information on her markings, expression, etc. The photo didn't have to be very clear for a watercolor. I wanted to capture her essence, not details, exactly.

Visiting & taking secret photos

It's not perfection, but I think I was able to get her sweet-natured aura, and some of her distinctive markings & coloring. It's only my second animal portrait, so I felt pretty good about it! I had a vintage frame for it, which wasn't perfect, but again: no money! Had to make-do. 

My portrait of Yoshi

I think Kyle really liked it. He put it on his wall, so that's always a good sign! With more practice, I think I'll improve... but really, I'm not about absolute realism. I never have been. (Well, I was when I was learning to draw and paint in school, but you kind of drop that after you learn to do it.) I like being able to capture an emotion, or a quality in the subject... I think that's more interesting. Do you agree? 

Loving Art

In my last post, I showed a Masked Owl print from yellowmonday, an etsy seller. I sent her an email asking about the print, and she responded that I could order it from her new shop, olive dear. She also told me that she would be happy to have me blog her shop. (Yay!) She is a wonderful illustrator! Here are some of my favorites...

I have a feeling that Brandi will like these a lot, as the artist has a fine use of line in her drawings. Also, they are so sweetly colored and appeal to the child in us. Each drawing has the feeling of an entire story... I love that about her work. 

Additional prints that I love from her original store, yellowmonday, are these...

If you enjoy these prints as much as I do, you should check out the etsy shop, olive dear, as well as yellowmonday. So much to love there, don't you think?