Day 118

Ram Pride, 6 x 6 inch oil on canvas

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

My friend Deb Groesser asked if I wanted to make a painting for a mosaic project for her city's 100 year anniversary. Four hundred 6 x 6 paintings are being painted by anyone who wants to take part, and will be raffled off as a fundraiser. Since I was already used to working in that size, and since it sounded like a fun project, I said "sure!" 

At first I was stumped as to what to paint, since it had to relate to the city of Ralston, Nebraska, which I really didn't know much about the history, or anything too specific. Then the idea hit me to look up the school mascot, hoping it would be something cool. And it was!! I'm so happy they're the Ralston Rams, rather than something like the Ralston Fighting Zephyrs. A ram, I can paint. A zephyr? Forget about it! (The only thing cooler is if they would have been the Ralston Raptors...)

I had a few photos of some rams I took at the Royal Gorge in Colorado several years ago to work from. I sort of winged the background, and I think it turned out pretty cool. More information about the Ralston Mosaic Project can be found here, and here is a nice article in the Omaha paper about the project.

Day 117

Late September, 6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

SOLD

This was painted on location with my plein air group. Last year, these fields were completely underwater. This year the fields were planted and harvested. The morning skys here really do have a yellowish cast to them, not sure if it has anything to do with the fields or not. I was drawn to the feeling of distance in this scene. 

Day 116

Sage, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

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Painted from life at the figure drawing group yesterday. This gentleman had the most amazing face! To be honest, I'd rather paint a face like this than a beautiful young girl any day. So much character and so many stories in every line and fold. The long pose was extended to an hour - a whole blessed hour!! I was in heaven.

Day 115

It's a New Life for Me, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

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The third and final painting for the Canine Art Guild's Helping Paws show. 50% of the proceeds of this painting are going to A Place to Bark - a wonderful rescue run by Bernie Berlin. Bernie is the author of Artist's Trading Card workshop, and is surely one of the hardest working people in rescue. She rescues dogs from high-kill shelters, and has saved thousands of lives, including this precious pup. Which is why I titled this painting, "It's a New Life for Me." Thank you Bernie, for giving a new life to so many!

day 114

Spot and the Honktapus

6 x 8 inch, oil on linen © 2102 Kathleen Coy

Click for the auction.

This is the second of my three paintings for the Canine Art Guild's Helping Paw's show. This painting will benefit GALT - the Greyhound Adoption League of Texas, and I cannot say enough good things about this organization. 50% of the proceeds of this painting will go directly to them, to help provide medical care and foster homes for retired, injured, and abused greyhounds. 

This is Spot, a GALT rescue who was adopted by his foster momma. Many of you know her as the beauty and brains behind Brother 2 Bother, also known as Bully and Nelson's momma. Spot is blind, but that doesn't seem to slow him down much. He lives a happy and full life now, thanks to GALT and Holly.

It's very easy to bid in these Daily Paintworks auctions - all you have to do is register. 

Here are a few work in progress photos. I had so much fun painting the colorful "Honktapus!"

Day 113

Elegance, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

Click for the auction.

I'm donating 50% of the proceeds of this special little painting to Greyhounds Unlimited, a non-profit rescue group that provides medical care and foster homes for retired greyhounds. They're a wonderful organization, and I appreciate the good work that they do for these elegant, sweet, and trusting dogs.

This is the first of 3 paintings I'm doing for the Canine Art Guild's annual Helping Paws online show, which will be posted on their website on Oct. 15th. People's Choice awards go to rescue organizations, and artists donate a portion of their sales to rescue groups as well.

Speaking of shows, I'm very happy to announce that my three paintings submitted to the Edward Hopper House 19th annual Small Matters of Great Importance show in Nyack, New York have been accepted. Cloud and his shadow are going to NY!

Day 112

The best view is always from the back of a good horse.

5 x 7 inch, oil on panel, © 2012 Kathleen Coy

SOLD

This horse belongs to one of my longest online friends. She has amazing photos of her life in the high desert of SE Oregon, that I live vicariously through. This handsome fellow is her horse, Colt, and the minute I saw this photo, I wanted to paint it. You can view her blog here. Enjoy!

Day 111

Seated Nude, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

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Another 40 minute pose at the figure drawing group. I love it when the long pose is seated, rather than reclining, although it's more difficult for the model to hold. Once again, I would have loved to have had more time, but I feel like I got a lot done in the 40 minutes, and I do like the loose, sketchy feel of this one. 

Day 110

Red Hen and Black Hen go for a Walk

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

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These two hens are on walkabout, intent on important business known only to them. I found these lovely ladies at the goat farm, Doe's and Diva's. Part of a flock of happy, truly free ranging birds. I wouldn't want to be a grasshopper in the path of these two. 

This is my first time submitting a painting to the Daily Paintworks weekly challenge. This week, the challenge is Bird Brain. Click here to see the paintings for this week's challenge.

Day 109

Hindsight, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel,

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

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I spotted this cute little Cocker Spaniel at the farmers market last weekend. I decided to leave out a lot of clutter - there were other people's feet and shadows in my reference photo, not to mention some signs. Leaving them out (and adding some shadows that weren't there) made for an overall stronger piece. 

Day 108

Dance, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

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I cannot tell you how much fun this was to paint. I was taking photos at a renaissance festival at a local winery a few years ago, with every intention of using them for paintings, and got busy with other projects and sort of forgot about them. Can you believe the photos sat in a file untouched this long? Me neither! Especially when I loved everything about the dance photos I got that day. The wonderful thing about these daily paintings is looking for new subjects, and going through files of my reference photos that I had set aside to paint "someday." Needless to say, I'm finding lots of good ones!

I'm trying something new with this painting - this is my first time using the auction feature on the Daily Paintworks site. Good luck to all who bid.

Day 107

TG in Repose, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

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Another 40 minute pose at the figure drawing group. TG is one of my favorite models - he can hold a pose like a statue. This is the first time he's modeled since I started bringing my oils, and I was happy for a change of skin color to paint. I concentrated mainly on the skin tones and capturing all the colors I saw - everything from blues and purples, to golds and even tangerine. TG has beautiful skin, and under the warm lighting, it just glows. 

Day 106

Jason at the Wheel, 6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

NFS

This painting was a labor of love. My husband is a part time potter, and our home is filled with his beautiful creations. I don't appreciate anyone else in this world more than my husband - he is my number one fan and his support through the years has been unwavering. It's because of him that I can spend my days painting. If I need something, he can usually build it for me. We love the same movies. He makes me laugh more than anyone. He makes dinner if I'm working late. He's my best friend, and I adore him.

Day 105

Salt Grinder, 6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

Some days I need to get a daily painting done quickly. This was one of those days. It still took longer than I had hoped (an hour and a half), but all in all, it wasn't too bad. I like the looseness of it. This is Himalayan pink salt in the grinder. Table salt is a highly processed food, and compared to this stuff, tastes like it. If table salt is all you've ever had, do yourself a favor and try any one of the natural sea salts, like Celtic Sea Salt, Himalayan pink salt, or Redmonds Real Salt. I haven't bought table salt in years, and never will again. Salt snobbery? Yes, indeed.

Day 104

Peachy, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

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I bought some peaches the other day specifically to paint. Never having painted peaches before (nectarines yes, peaches no), I wanted to see what it was like to paint their fuzzy skins. Verdict - why, it's just peachy!! Seriously, a great deal of fun. I can see why peaches make their way into so many still life paintings. Good times!

Just in case my painting didn't put this song in your head, I'll put it there right now. Enjoy all the bonus peach artwork:

Day 103

Grace, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

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Karin Jurick had a recent blog post about a site that hosts free photos that artists can use for figure drawing and painting practice. I always have quite a bit of skin tones left over after my weekly live figure painting session, and I wanted to find a way to put it to good use for the next day. Last time I checked, oil paint doesn't grow on trees (especially Old Holland.) This site is perfect for me!

So I painted this from one of their photos, and I can't tell you how much fun it was! This is what I would love for my live session figure paintings to look like, but that's a huge stretch - there's only so much you can do in 40 minutes, so they are considered to be oil "sketches." Working without a time limit on this one, I spent about a half hour drawing and then a good 3 hours with the paint... it felt wonderful to be able to take my time with a figure painting!!

Here is the site I got the photo from, if any artists want to do some figure practice: http://www.pixelovely.com/gesture/figuredrawing.php

Day 102

Fran II, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

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Another 40 minute pose at the figure drawing group. I cannot stress enough what good practice this is - if there's a group in your area, check it out. Painting "on the fly" like this has done wonders to speed up my thought process, decision making, and even how fast I can move my eyes back and forth between the model and the painting. I noticed that last part especially this time, I never knew my eyes could move so fast. Her face was in shadow, so I took a page from Susan Lyon (an artist I love dearly) this time and blurred the face as I didn't have time to do it justice, and concentrated on the figure. 

Day 101

Shadow Walk 6 

6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

Winner of the 2012 Edward Hopper House annual small works show,  

Small Matters of Great Importance, in Nyack, NY.

SOLD

Number 6 may be a new favorite in the Shadow Walk series for me. I love the composition of this piece. I also love the dark value of Cloud's white back feet, in the shade of his own shadow. I get such a kick out of going through my photos and looking for things that stand out to me, cropping those photos into interesting design patterns, and then to create paintings that play up the things that caught my eye in the first place, all while celebrating the beauty of everyday life. I was incredibly honored that this painting won the Award of Excellence at the Edward Hopper House small works show in 2012.

Day 100!

Shadow Walk 5, 6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

SOLD

Today I'm celebrating my 100th daily painting! It's only fitting that it be of Cloud. I really like the feeling of movement in this piece, helped along by the vertical brushstrokes in the road. And I love, love, love the blue sky reflected on the top of his left hind foot. There's a world of color reflected in fur, especially white fur. Black fur picks up a lot of reflections, too. Keep an eye out for them the next time you look at a black or white dog. 

Day 99

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

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

SOLD

This painting was commissioned as a companion piece to Bully in the Snow, which you can read about here. Nelson and Bully are greyhound brothers who live with their family in Texas. You can meet these handsome brothers, and the rest of the family, including their very talented "mom," here. It was such a pleasure to paint both of these little portraits. 

If you would like to see your pet as one of my small daily paintings, feel free to drop me a line at the email in my profile. Prices start at 150.00 for a head pose, and increase for full body and/or detailed backgrounds. 

*Don't forget - today is the last day of my sale - 40% off all paintings in my Etsy shop!! Click here to go to my Etsy Store.

Sale!

I'm having a three day sale this weekend - 40% off all paintings in my Etsy shop, with free shipping on orders over 50.00! US sales only. Take advantage of these prices, and help me clear some shelf space!

Click the link to visit my Etsy shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop/ladyhawk1