Happy Vladi Day

"Summer Snow"

Today is the day, 12-week-old Vladimir came home to join the family! We just walked in the door with him. We are going to be spending every moment enjoying him and will start posting the photos of the trip home and the reaction of Tanj and Usch starting tomorrow.

So today we have a "pre-packaged blog" about making our first painting of Vladi...

The first step is preparing the panels.

Once they are cut,

glued, nailed, and sanded,

gesso is added to seal the wood
and the back is painted in black.

The inspection team is ready to lend a hand.

Yellow acrylic is used to sketch a design
on the gessoed board.

Blocks of color are added.

Additional blocks of color are added as well
as white shapes. Les decided she liked the
shapes better than the two vertical lines.

Background colors are deepened.

Shapes are reworked and new shapes are added.

Is this supposed to be me? I have more swirls!

Vladi is painted in with many colors for fun
and to add depth to his coat color.

Vladi and the various shapes are getting
closer to their final colors.

Les adds detailed lines...

and final touches of color.

Now the painting dries for a few days, gets coated with
varnish, and hanging hardware is added to the back.

Tanj brushes by the finished painting making sure
it is covered in a sufficient number of cat hairs.

The next step is to get a color accurate
picture of the painting for the archives
and future cards. Since the lighting inside
doesn't seem to work I attempted some outside shots.
The trick is to have an overcast day, no such luck mid-summer
in Oregon, so I tried some shots under the eves,
next to the boys kennel.

Hey what are you doing out here?

Hello ?

Maybe I can get its attention ?

This painting has a home, but the boys have
also been helping us with other paintings...

"Angels Visit" is completed and being auctioned
on eBay (a link is available through our store).

Stay tuned for more adventures as "V" joins "T &U" ...


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