HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Jackie - his first Christmas, his first snow.

And wishing everyone a terrif 2012!

A Place in the Country

Watercolor  11"x14"

Near Montreal, a family's country house.   Three generations have fond memories.
Grandfather will be getting this for Christmas.

Enjoy!


PS  Today marks 93 pcs of artwork* since October 26, 2010. 
Only 7 more to make my first 100! 
*Photos don't count!


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Daisy takes it easy

Pastel  9"x12"

Daisy was adopted Nov 21st by a good friend.   Here she is on her second day "at home" lolling on an armchair.   She's two years old, has the sweetest character and is just beginning to realise that she has arrived in the closest thing to heaven on earth.   Weighs around 45 lbs, is a mix of Shepherd, Huskie and Bernese...how do they KNOW this?...and the only word on her previous life was "abused".

It's another fast and free sketch which captures the mood of her comfort and I hope gives a hint of her superb markings.

Enjoy


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Ozzie Lights Up

Pastel   8" x 10"

A more regal pose and a fun, loose style - my preference at all times.  Deliciously fast and yet captures the essence of the Oz.   One that genuinely pleases me - I hope it does you!

Enjoy!

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Emma....

Color Pencil  9" x 12"

From the "In the Park" series of photographs:  she hesitated in front of me, and then veered off to chase a leaf.

Enjoy!

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SOMEONE....

Color Pencil  8" x 10"

...was NOT happy about having her photo taken!!    

Typically Ozzie is full of joie de vivre and her fur feathers fly as she prances.    She "pets professionally" meaning she is a therapy dog and visits my mother (and others) every week.   Long story about WHY she is named Ozzie.  Never mind, she is beautiful and very clever.

Enjoy!

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Due to go under the tree..

Color Pencil 8"x10"

The giftee looked at our boy above and said, "It's him!  It's him!" and hugged me.   I guess that pretty much guarantees he'll be under the tree!

Enjoy


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"In the frame"

This is not about dear Minou - his original post Nov 10th - but how he is framed.

Outer 'grey' frame size is 12" x 16" - and it's really a silver patina.
First mat is white wi bevel edge
Second mat, a brown textured cardstock.

I gotta say this is so much much better than original mat crop which was 8"x10" and rather bland.  PURE LUCK that it ended up this way!   So I'm thankful I made an unrecoverable error in the Minou picture...and cropping it out became essential.  Also (phew) I know how to cut mats, so it was relatively simple and economical.  

Enjoy


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Jenny in the Light

Pastel 8" x 12"

She was lying on our bed, staring out the window and the light was streaming in.   It's her favorite window since there are TREES, LEAVES and SQUIRRELS.

Enjoy


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GK or Grey Kitty

Color Pencil 8"x10"

His real name is Grey Kitty.   But somehow that was just too feminine for this boy from the wild.   While taking photos I re-christened him and the owner loved it too - so introducing GK.   Yup, he's a tough guy and the look seems to say "don't mess with me".

He and Minou will be framed tomorrow and off to their home midweek...

Enjoy


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Minou walks in....

Color Pencil  8"x10"

A while ago I posted this same pose in pastel.   Very pleased with this...now have to do Minou's stablemate, GK or Grey Kitty.   They are both dark grey cats, Minou has more fur.

Enjoy!

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Emma on the run....

 12"x6" Photo

Many have already seen this.   I find it rather special - it captures the incredible beauty of Emma.  Ultimately I like it better than the "jump shots";  they're fun, this is serious!

One amongst 305 taken October 30.

Enjoy!



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Keller

Pastel  15"x19"

It's been a saga!   But here is the final...who now will go under glass and home tomorrow.  Note that the colors here are correct for his coat - a more muted brown and black tabby.

Keller was christened thus as a kitten.  In his new adoptive home he was so intensely concentrating (one thinks!)  on his new environment he just didn't "listen" - call him or speak to him, and he just ignored it all.   So, "Let's call him Keller!"   A few weeks later he chose to listen  . . .  but he kept the name.

A very large bundle of love remembered with great affection.
 
Enjoy!


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More Tail!

Color Pencil  8" x 10"

Same pose, Minou - still making sure his tail's where it should be.
He may also be wondering about the color: "I thought I was GREY!"
Will this be a "framer"?   Who knows.

Compared to one below this pose is more accurate.   I'm not sure
which I prefer.....!

Enjoy!


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Tail Trouble?

Pastel   12"x 8"

A 5 min sketch - pencil rough first. 
Minou staring inently at his tail, or perhaps something on the floor.  Minou shares quarters with GK and is far less troubled by strangers so many more fotos stashed.   Not sure if this will be selected as final pose but I do like the sinuous lines.

Enjoy


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GK Begins

Ink ballpoint+color pencil   app 7" x 9"

This is GK ("Grey Kitty") feeling safe while sitting on his mistress's lap.  It was the only time I caught him with a soft expression.   In post below you can experience how piercingly he regarded me!

It's one of several sketches as I work towards the final.   I am not totally sure where it will go.   I've become very fond of him and want to do him proud.

Enjoy!


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GK wi Flowers

GK, or Grey Kitty, watching me.
Very very cautious having raised himself as a stray.  The patio was his territory...and I'd stepped onto it. GK figured caution was better part of valour and disappeared - then came warily back about 10 minutes later.

I should add:  he has the most loving "home" and mistress, whom he adores.  On her lap he is in seventh heaven - he just doesn't take kindly to strangers.

Enjoy!

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Digital Delight

You may have seen this, I simplified it!

 

Look for the digit!

(Thanks, Minou)

Enjoy

Bandit's Photo Session

Bandit was NOT going to cooperate
and thus these
terrific "out-takes"

!!

I will NOT smile

 

Won't!  Won't!

Aargh.  This is SOOOO BORING!

Hey!  What's that?

 WOW, it ran right across the room!

Gotta go catch it!

And in the end, all of the above

was much better than the "official" portrait

Enjoy

(Thank you, Bandit)

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You again?

Coming Soon - but maybe not this pose
The look is definitely NOT happy to see me:  "Oh no!  Her again!"


MINOU is a shy medium fluffy grey boy.   He has this quirk:  he likes people who squeak.   Yes SQUEAK not speak.   A high mouselike squeak calms him down and turns him on.   So first 15 mins at his home, all conversation was squeaked.  (If speak becomes spoken, does squeak become squoken?)  Surprisingly difficult to maintain.  Ultimately he realised I was not a serial cat thief and I got some very decent shots to work from, of which many are just downright funny.

Took 3 hours.  Tho NOT unusual for cats to take ages.   They are such sensitive things (heavy sarcasm).   Oh, that time included his buddy GK who was REALLY shy but was not (thank heaven) in need of squeaking.


Enjoy!


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Rescued 2009

All rescue cats are beautiful.   This was one - from 2009. 

Enjoy



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Brody's Back!

pastel 8"x10"

I loved doing Brody the Second...and thank goodness I had textured pastel paper in PRECISELY
the color I wanted.

The first Brody - color pencil, Wednesday Sept 21st - created the enthusiasm for this.
'Twere a lot of fun!

Enjoy!


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Soho and Snow

Color Pencil  8" x 8-1/2"

This was winter 2010/11 (I believe) and Soho's out in the snow, which explains
abbreviated rear leg!   I love the eagerness, the quizzical face and in a split
second you know Soho will be bouncing off somewhere else!   The sketchy
format seems to go with the buoyancy of that moment.


The photo arrived this past February just as life turned upside down.
Almost right side up now - paper, pastels, pencils and enthusiasm for same are returning.  
Soho is a workout sketch - a friend of a friend's dog, sent to me for my "reserve file":
free to use as and when, as long as I let them know it's done.

Enjoy!


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Time out...

         ...for sleeping



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Coat of Many Colors

Color Pencil  8"x10"

His name is Brody and he's shy and retiring - so I wonder what he'll think
of this vibrant persona when it arrives at his home on Monday!

I like the impact of that narrow inner mat, which is set just inside the
outer cream mat.  I chose blue for the final since I felt that was more in
tune with his real character - below are some of the other options I tried.
I create these using colored card and a special mat cutter.

Enjoy!

Together at last: Taylor & Taylor

      Above:  "TAYLOR"   Pastel    Dec 7, 2010

 Below: "TAYLOR" & Taylor (& Sylvie)  Sept 11, 2011

Taylor is a magnificent example of feline pulchritude!   His extraordinarily lush tail is awesome - so is it the reason for "Taylor"?   Maybe I should do another portrait?  hmmm.

He shares space with five dogs and 2 people.   Mutual affection is omnipresent in that home;  during the evening walk with the dogs, Taylor goes right along too, and the big boys watch out for him.  His special status shows in his living arrangement:  he has HIS OWN BEDROOM.

A very handsome boy.         Thanks for looking!

PS  I'm changing that inner mat from black (so funereal!) to a color.   Something a little wild.   Should look vastly improved.

Artistic blunder or FORGERY!

 

Pastel  21"x7" on Arches Watercolor paper (yes, it's Jenny again)

A multiple experiment

* a very textured surface that did NOT take kindly to detail!

* the pose...those backlegs always trip me up...and that's where the forgery comes in!

It's all to do with those back legs!   All floppy and no defined shape.   Lower one bent with toes part curled coming forward and upper one just flopping behind.    Not much contrast in photo and fur fogs detail PLUS Jenny's grey white coat didn't help - so I sacrificed her coat color to focus on shading.   

Ultimately pleased - with result and quite proud of myself for sticking to it with those hind legs, struggling to get them right.  I THINK I've achieved visual comprehension.  Wouldn't life be wonderful if every creative process ALWAYS happened as perfectly as one's brain knew it should be!   

The forgery?   See smaller pic - then look at larger pic, top.   In smaller there's a heavy (abusive) yellow mess above upper hind leg.   THAT was to correct the outline, to bring it down to reflect the sinking curve of that flopped back leg.  Tsk Tsk   P'shop helped eliminate that in larger pic - I felt you needed to know.

Enjoy!

Gotta start somewhere!

 

Pastel 13"x14" first sketch  

Great?  no.   Good?   no.   Amusing?  YES!

This is Keller.   He was regally chunky (Henry VIII would be an apt regal comparison!) and liked to "sit up" on a sofa, so here he was sitting up in the corner, his paws resting on the arm.  Not enough torso in the above to make that obvious however if this is selected as "the" pose, then more torso will show!

I enjoyed this!

Zenyatta Finished

 

Pastel  10"x16"

Way back when Zenyatta "Unfinished" appeared.   This is that picture finished.  Took me a long time to get there.   I feel very ambivalent about this:   it's the only race she ever lost, and her last before retiring to become a mother.   I couldn't bear to show the winner.   Her jockey wept after the loss.  

If you do not know Zenyatta, look her up.   She's the lady who danced, and you can watch her moves on YouTube.

Framed and on the wall it hangs behind me where the light is best and the reflection minimal.  It's good to get up and turn around.

ciao            liz 

FOR A FAST REVIEW of other work, 

click on a GALLERY page.

Framed!

This past week I stared in dismay
at a pile of empty frames in my mother's apartment.  
                             Bingo!  
Rather than give the rescue organisations
a pile of empty frames for garage sales,
I reformatted some portraits to b/w or sepia.
made prints, and put them in the frames.
A few of those reformatted are below.  
Gotta say they give the frames LIFE!  

My husband looked at them glumly and asked,
"Why aren't we keeping them?"

Here's hoping everyone wants them!

A COLD & Lovely Day

 

 

The Eco-Museum in Montreal this week.   Ffffffffffreezing!    For those not in the know, it's a collection of animals native to Quebec, from the often seen to the hardly ever seen.    It's a wonderfully quiet place to visit and held in great affection by those who have small children.  In fact watching the antics of the 2 yr olds is quite as interesting as the animals.

The otter display is outdoors - you can see the top half of the window is iced up.   Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Saying Goodbye!

 

Taken at 9 am today - that long shadow is from my mother's apartment building.  It's 27 stories, her apartment is on the 22nd.

My mother is now in a superb nursing care residence (REALLY super!) where she is relishing her new room full of old things and a different (lower) view!   It's me that's in her 'old' apartment, packing up and closing down and saying goodbye to this view which will be very, very hard to lose.    Another view below.....

Puts things in context: the edge of her balcony with squirrels running thru crisp snow.

Below, looking to the right of the above...

St Joseph's Oratory with the sun coming in sharply from the right.  Very hazy.  I love the pointy evergreens!

For over a month now, not a pastel or pencil to paper.   I think it won't be too much longer.