Valentine Pairing

I actually painted this portrait late last fall, but the colors seem quite appropriate to share near Valentine's day.

"Juno" 20 x 20 inch acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

The English bull terrier depicted is one of two owned by a client in Chicago.  You may recognize this companion portrait, shown below, that I painted early in 2011.

"Rudy" 20 x 20 inch acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

They make a sweet and happy-looking couple, both in real life and on canvas.

Pairing two or more same-size Rainbowdog canvases is a great decorating idea and a beautiful way to show the world how much we love our dogs (I have numerous portraits at my house!).

I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have about commissioning your own Rainbowdog - just shoot me an email.

Rainbowdog Pet Portraits. Life's more fun when it's colorful. Don't you agree?

New Fun Frames: Another Breed of Rainbowdog Joins the Pack

I've heard so much positive feedback about my dog paintings in decorated frames -- now on exhibit at the Easttown Library -- that I've decided to offer them for sale as custom portraits alongside my larger-than-life Rainbowdog portraits.  My husband came up with a (tentative) name for them: Fun Frames, which does pretty much hit the nail on the head. 

What's the difference between a Fun Frame and the 'standard' Rainbowdog? The Fun Frames include the same vibrant dogs but have intricate patterened backgrounds and come in a slightly smaller 11 x 14 inch size.  Each has a solid wood frame, hand painted and decorated to coordinate with your portrait, embellished with a your dog's name or a humorous saying in funky decoupage writing. 

From canvas to frame, each piece is hand painted, extremely personal, and packs a powerful visual punch.  And the size means that everybody has room for a Rainbowdog portrait, no matter how limited their space.

If you would like to commission a Fun Frame or a Rainbowdog, please send me an email.  Now is the time to order for the holidays!

Please let me know your thoughts, either with a comment here, or join the conversation on facebook.  As always, thanks for sharing my art with your family and friends.

Easttown Library Goes to the Dogs

An exhibit of a dozen Rainbowdog paintings is hanging in the Easttown Library in Berwyn, PA for the month of October. The library hosts different artists nearly every month, and I'm happy to add my pack of dog paintings to their number.

Here are a few pictures of the Rainbowdogs among the stacks.

The dogs really brighten up the library, if I do say so myself.  They can do the same for your house, too. Now is a great time to commission a portrait as a special holiday gift.  Just shoot me an email if you'd like to get started.

Rainbowdog Pet Portraits.  Life's more fun when it's colorful!

Exploring a New Approach to Dog Paintings

Here are the first four paintings in a planned series of non-commissioned dog paintings. I will be offering these - and more to come - as prints.  Still working on titles for some of these, but I do believe a good title really lifts a picture from the ordinary.  Feel free to leave suggestions for titles in the comments section!

1) "Did You Forget Something?"

2) "Walkies?"

3) "My Couch"

4) "Short Legs, Big Ball"

I am having a great time with the colors and patterns in these paintings. If you have a great picture of a dog -- that you have taken yourself -- that you would like to see transformed into a Rainbowdog original, send it along. If I use it, I'll send you a free print. Don't forget to suggest a title!

I hope to hear from you!

Yellow Lab in Color

As you probably know, I love to use unconventional color to make my portraits sing, and I really had a blast with this latest commission of a yellow lab, a 20 x 24 inch acrylic on gallery-wrap canvas.

The "light" in this painting is coming strongly from the side, allowing me to make some beautiful rainbow shadows on the "dark side" of the dog's face. There is also a lot of energy coming from the red shadow against that green background. Who remembers from elementary school that green and red are opposites on the color wheel? That means they are complementary colors, and an artist gets the most tension and contrast when they are next to each other. (Don't mix them together though, unless you want mud.)

If you'd like to see your pet come to life on canvas just like this, it's easy -- and fun! -- to commission a Rainbowdog. Just send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for sharing my art with your family and friends.

Thee Amigos

This one of my latest paintings is large, at 24 by 36 inches, but I needed that space to capture the larger-than-life personalities of my subjects, three different dogs all from one family. They are a happy bunch, and I used vivid color to help convey the joy and camaraderie these pups share.

The original photograph I worked from came courtesy of Sarah A., and her dogs' names are from left, Kita, Scout and Ruby.  The portrait is an acrylic, as usual, on gallery-wrapped canvas with the painting continuing around the sides.  I love the way the electric green glow around these guys makes them pop from the background.

If you'd like to commission your own Rainbowdog portrait, just send me an email.

Vibrant Bulldog "Miss Weezer" is a Winner

Readers may remember this fabulous photograph of Miss Weezer, submitted by her owner to the Rainbowdog Dead-of-Winter Portrait Giveaway contest earlier this year.  Who could forget a face like that?

Well, Miss W didn't win the portrait contest, but that didn't stop me from capturing her adorable mug on canvas a few months later. To keep the focus on Miss Weezer's face, I removed her bandana, but made sure to emphasize her soulful expression and those distinctive bulldog teeth!  I also enlivened the entire portrait with bright bands of color.

Bulldogs are lots of fun to paint. One of the first Rainbowdogs I ever painted was a bully named Gracie, and I liked her portrait so well that I used it on my business card for quite some time.  Gracie's portrait is also part of a book of bulldog art created by Art 4 Causes entitled Full of Bull.  Purchases of the book go to bulldog charity.

If you have a bulldog you'd like to see immortalized on canvas, send me an email. I'd love to get working on those wrinkles!

Rainbowdog Pet Portraits: Life's more fun when it's colorful.