Oil Painting- Dog Portraits

I’ve been painting like a madwoman because whenever I start a new hobby I go full force. I started painting dogs for practice and feel like I’m getting pretty good at it, enough to start selling them one of these days. Maybe it wouldn’t be as much fun if I had to do it but I may explore this and put any money earned toward my credit card debt. And if I don’t go that route, I’ll paint a bunch more and hang them to add fun and whimsy to my living room wall.

Here are the ones I’ve completed to date. The black and white ones are all of my Granola. The Australian Shepherd is my friend’s dog, Jasper. The terrier-type dog is my stepfather’s buddy Scooter.

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This weekend I did the two below. The little brown dog, Maysie, belongs to my husband’s coworker. The poodle is my father-in-law’s dog, Bridget.

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I’ve got two more to paint that someone requested and then I’m seriously going to consider opening an Etsy shop or at least advertising locally. I’m a little intimidated with trying to paint humans but I should give that a shot too.

Painting is so relaxing. The materials are a bit expensive but once I have the paints they last a while, except for black and white which I use up pretty quickly. I use Winsor and Newton Paints, Artist’s line, linseed oil and Dammar Varnish. I’ve been using the Winsor Winton Titanium White from Amazon because I use so much. It’s a little thicker but the oil thins is nicely.

I’ve got shelves full of tile and need to get back to mosaics one of these days. The only reason I’ve slowed down, okay two reasons, are the mosquitos that are STILL HERE even though it’s October 31st. Happy Halloween by the way. And second, I used up all the wall I can easily get to that’s not obstructed by plants. Any new work I do will need to be on the hill and it’s a lot harder to tile, lugging up heavy tile, water, and grout.

I hope you enjoy the paintings and feel a bit inspired.

-Tracy

My Mosaic Wall – The California Flag

I’m at a crossroads with my wall. The area I can see from my patio is full. I now have to stand to my left to see all of it where the corner of the house is. To the left of the wall is a tree I don’t want to tile behind. I could tile up the wall on the hill, or against the back wall but I’m worried about water from when I water the plants. At this point I think I’ve decided I’ll continue the wall even if it’s beside the house and I can’t get a picture of it all at once. That’s what video is for.

For today though, I’m posting about my take on the California flag with its symbolic bear. One thing I learned pretty quickly into this project is that drawing bears is hard. Here are the first few steps I took. As you can see I wasn’t off to a promising start.

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With determination, this finally all came together. All told it took about two hours the first day, and about fifteen minutes the next day for the grouting. First picture is the end of day one with no grout. When the project was done, I used black grout paint to make the bear’s white of his eye smaller. I sprayed the whole thing with grout sealer the third day and hoped the paint would withstand the heavy rain (and even hail that looked like snow on the other side of town). It worked out fine. I used a variety of tiles this time, from Dollar Tree broken plates to donated tile from friends, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Habitat for Humanity markdowns.

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Final pictures are of my trusty tile companion Granola. This was from another project but she’s always by my side and deserves a shout out.

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Thanks for visiting!

-Tracy

My Mosaic Wall – COVID-19 and Dr. Fauci

I couldn’t let the year go by without acknowledging the two things that took over and altered everyone’s live in 2020: COVID-19 and Dr. Fauci.

When COVID-19 started to become a household word in March 2020, like many people, we watched the nightly TV broadcast of President Trump and Dr. Fauci. There were other speakers like Dr. Birx and generals and other health experts, but Dr. Fauci became the man our country turned to for the truth about the status of COVID-19.

All our lives were turned upside down, and as we’ve wrestled with one restriction after another, one loss after another, the root of it has been this darn virus. Since my wall is an homage to everything in my life (that I can relay in tile) plus some other things that are just fun, like the dolphin, I had to give it and Dr. Fauci a spot on my wall.

I made his glasses from a Christmas tree hook since they’re abundant in our house right now. I used from silver penny mosaic tiles, some glass sparkly strips Home Depot, and some broken plates from Dollar Tree. I also used some square green mosaic tile I bought last year.

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I added his mask and glasses after I grouted as they were an extra layer. I need to go back and fix his arm. It’s a tiny figure and at the time I didn’t notice his elbow. Still though I think it’s a good depiction of the virus and it’s communicator, trapped in a frame that I hope means it will be contained.