Category: Animals

Animals · paintings · portraits

After another long absence, some updates, awards, etc

J R Dunster4 Comments

I have neglected this blog (as well as painting), but it hasn’t been without a reason.

Some old (but still exciting) news is that I got some recognition from the Art Muse Contest for April 2016. Thank you so much to the judge! I was a finalist in the “Emerging” category and also got the additional honor of being eligible for Gallery Representation. Pretty cool, and I am honored and thrilled!

“The Greek Artist” 12″ x 12″ oil on panel. Finalist in the Art Muse Contest! This is a portrait of a fellow artist who has strong Greek roots—a detail that brings him great pride! I snapped an impromptu photo of him while he was attending a figure drawing session. The photo made a good basis for a portrait.

“The Greek Artist” also got a “Fav 15%” from the Bold Brush awards, so that was also very cool.

There were a couple of other honors, and I need to update my “About Me” page to include them! This Spring was especially good to me.

And for other news… the last several months I’ve been quiet on this blog. I also haven’t posted any new paintings for sale on DailyPaintworks or UGallery for quite a while. Continue reading “After another long absence, some updates, awards, etc” →

Animals · paintings

Such a Good Kitty

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“Such a Good Kitty” 4×4″ oil on panel.

This little black and white kitty caught my eye. What a sweet expression! Painting black and white fur is always fun!

For this piece I used a 4×4″ panel which was primed with some Michael Harding Foundation White. Well, it wasn’t white when I got through with it—I mixed in some blue before priming some plain wood panels. There’s something special about using lead-based priming for oil painting! Continue reading “Such a Good Kitty” →

Animals · paintings · Tutorials · Tutorials

Working with a tablet; FABULOUSLY ORANGE cat head

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Using a Kindle Fire tablet for drawing reference (Work in Progress pencil sketch). Click on picture to see larger version. (Reference photo is from posespace.com.)

I thought I’d write a little bit about a common tool used by artists: A digital tablet.

Many artists report that tablets are superior for displaying reference photos. Tablets are not limited by the resolution of a print on paper. You can zoom in on an image to see far more detail. The colors are often more accurate and with a wider range. Continue reading “Working with a tablet; FABULOUSLY ORANGE cat head” →

Animals · drawings · paintings

Back again, Back again, Happy New Year!

J R Dunster2 Comments
“Fluffy Tuxedo Kitty” 6×6″ oil on cradled panel.

After a regrettably long hiatus, I am back with a new cat head painting! And for the New Year!

Circumstances in life prevented me from getting into my studio to paint for the past several months. I tried to compensate for that by doing some drawings at home. (More on that later.) But now I am back, and am working on some new paintings! This little cat head is the first to be completed. I especially was trying to capture the fluffiness of this kitty with soft brush strokes and lost edges. Also, warm and cool temperatures were used to show depth (I hope).

With this painting I also attempted to go looser! It was fun!

Words cannot express how much I missed painting, and how WONDERFUL it felt to be back to it!

But, I did do some fun pencil work, and below is my latest piece. It probably needs some more tweaking. It’s simple graphite pencil (0.05mm mechanical pencil, HB lead) on smooth paper.

“Untitled” (so far), pencil on paper, approximately 6×7″. Probably still needs some tweaks.

I’m a BIIIIIG fan of crosshatching. Continue reading “Back again, Back again, Happy New Year!” →

Animals · paintings · portraits

Warm & Cool, plus Close-up Cat head

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“Warm & Cool,” 14×14″ oil on cradled panel.

(This painting was a recent award-winner! I ramble more about that in a previous post. This work got 1st place in the Oil category at a local art show.)

“Close-up” (Cat Head), 4×4″ oil on panel.

A mini 4×4 inch cat head!

Okay, I’ve got a lot to cover in this post, no time to waste! Continue reading “Warm & Cool, plus Close-up Cat head” →

Animals · Misc. Stuff

Plethora of Cat Heads, other news

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I’ve been remiss in updating this blog, so let me get right to it. I’ve got some news and some art to post. First off, more cat heads:

“Dilute Calico” 4×4″ oil on panel.
“Long Whiskers,” 5×7″ oil on canvas panel.
“Earnest Orange,” 8×8″ oil on canvas panel.
“I am Siamese if You Please,” 6×6″ oil on panel.

As has been already firmly established, I love painting the cat heads. These particular cat heads were a joy! Lots of fun, very diverse cat “looks.” And I feel I’m just getting started! I’ve got a whole lot more cat head paintings in me! 🙂

On to other news, I am a “featured artist” on Daily Paintworks this month, because the unthinkable happened—I got an award! Me! Who would have guessed? Continue reading “Plethora of Cat Heads, other news” →

Animals · paintings · portraits

Jabba the Cat, and the Clague workshop

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“Jabba the Cat,” 6×6″ oil on cradled panel.

A recent effort! Jabba the Cat was done as a class project, for an oil painting student I’m currently teaching. We wanted to tackle the many different values and colors in a white animal–where are the values (lights and darks) the lightest? How light? How dark? Continue reading “Jabba the Cat, and the Clague workshop” →