Family Vacation Show

"Zephyr Takes a Ride Through Georgia"
24x12 acrylic on canvas
$1200 unframed free shipping in the US



Corrine and I are doing our first ever joint show at the Benjamin Benjamin Gallery at 114 3rd St. in Hood River, OR this month. The opening party is Friday Oct. 2nd and it's bound to be a blast. Myah and her husband Scott are great and we love Hood River. If you're going to be in the area please stop by to see the show. Like all artists I wish I had had more time to create new works for it. That said I think the whole show looks great and can't wait for Friday night.

Sorry there won't be any postings while I'm on the road. Next week I'll be back to painting.

Bri-

The Chase

"The Chase"

12x12 acrylic on canvas
$400 unframed plus $6 for shipping in the US
Email:dogbri@q.com to purchase

Here's the finished version. I love the tones that I ended up using on Zephyr. He's such a beautiful dog and I enjoy hanging out with him as much as I do painting him.

This one was painted using only Golden Heavy Body acrylic, I chose to skip the Open so that I could get the colors down thicker and faster. The trees in the background were created using a palette knife instead of a brush. I wanted to work really fast not only because the deadline for "Family Vacation" is so close, but also because I wanted the process to mimic the speed of the dogs in the painting. I figured if I spent to much time working on it I would not have captured the feeling of the scene, and the blur of the moment.

Bri-

The chase continues

"The Chase"
(in progress)

12x12 acrylic on canvas
$400 unframed plus $6 for shipping in the US
Email:dogbri@q.com to purchase

Here they are running as fast as they can. I have some subtle details to add to this so you'll get to see the results tomorrow.

Again I'm working from a B+W photo on this and I really love the freedom from reality that it offers my mind, yet I found on Zephyr that I wanted to use all natural tones in his fur. There's something about the different tones he has that bring that about I think. Whereas with Bettini, she's white and so I'm open to do whatever I want to her and it translates as white in the end.

Tomorrow's work will bring fun colors to Zephyr though. Can you say "pink"?

Bri-

But where are they?

"The Chase"
(in progress)

12x12 acrylic on canvas
$400 unframed plus $6 for shipping in the US
Email:dogbri@q.com to purchase

I think this maybe the last painting I get to create for the "Family Vacation" show. It's of Zephyr and Bettini playing a game of keep away. You can't see any of it right now but in the photo I'm working from Zephyr has a deer bone in his mouth and Bettini wants it badly. I had to take it away from him otherwise I'm sure there would have been real trouble.

For some reason little dogs think they are invincible.

Bri-

I see me...

"1st Bike Ride"


5x7 acrylic on canvas
$125 unframed plus $10 for shipping in the US
Email:dogbri@q.com to purchase

So I'm pretty much done with this self portrait, but I still have to paint the sides of the canvas. There were lights on either side of the minor, but the canvas, or framing I chose isn't large enough to show them. So rather than do another posting where the only thing that's changed is something you can't see, I consider this done.

One thing that I haven't mentioned with this painting is that I worked from a B&W photograph instead of color, just to see how it would work out. I have such a vivid memory of what the colors of my clothing and the bathroom were, I figured it would be a fun exercise. I liked doing it so much that I'm going to try it on my next painting as well.

Bri-

Lily of the Lake (final)

"Lily of the Lake"
(in progress)

7x5 acrylic on canvas
SOLD

Here's the finished painting of "Lily on the Lake". I made a few changes to the picture that I was working from based on my clients request. The kayak in the photo was red, but they own blue ones, easy change, another was the background. Lily was to be the focus of the painting, and to create a pleasing composition I ended up cropping some of the forest along the shoreline, it does however wrap around the top and sides of the canvas. I also saw truck campers in the photo, but since I prefer Airstreams, that's what's in the upper right hand corner.

I'm really happy with how the surface of the water turned out and have to say it's thanks to my growing knowledge of how the Golden Open paints work. I was able to mix and match them so well with the regular acrylic and think it creates just wonderful tones.

Bri-

Here's looking at me...

"1st Bike Ride"
(in progress)

5x7 acrylic on canvas
$125 unframed plus $10 for shipping in the US
Email:dogbri@q.com to purchase

I spent today painting, working on Corrine's townie bike, and cleaning and organizing things.

Here's the result of my painting time, well of just one of my efforts. I also worked on the "Lily" painting too. I think I'll be done with that tomorrow, but only time will tell.

Bri-

Working on the boat...

"Lily of the Lake"
(in progress)

7x5 acrylic on canvas
SOLD

It's coming along, but I'm always amazed at how long it takes to do small paintings. I think because I'm just as interested in all the details but end up needind to use more brush strokes and smaller brushes to do it.

It's also a lot later than I thought. Time for bed I've got swim practice in the morning.

Bri-

Thinner Lily...

"Lily of the Lake"
(in progress)

7x5 acrylic on canvas
SOLD

I think I've become addicted to Golden Open. Today while making Lily a little thinner, I used the regular heavy body stuff because it happens to be more opaque than the Open. Then when I'd go to make slight shading changes to Lily's chest the paint had already dried. So back to the Open palette.

I really like how she's turning out and can't wait to spend more time with her tomorrow.

Bri-

Self Portrait 01

"1st Bike Ride"
(in progress)

7x5 acrylic on canvas
$125 unframed plus $10 for shipping in the US
Email:dogbri@q.com to purchase

This is my first self portrait since college and that was about 18 years ago. You could also see my face in it.

This painting depicts the first time I took our dog Zephyr for a bike ride in New York City. He loved it and still loves bicycles, but he's no longer small enough to fit in a back pack. So now he goes running or swimming with me instead.

I felt a funny feeling when taking the picture for this posting, because I'm using the same camera to take the picture as the one I'm using in it. It was a little bit of a mirror effect in my mind. If only I was wearing that cycling helmet.

Bri-

Lily of the Lake

"Lily of the Lake"
(in progress)

7x5 acrylic on canvas
SOLD

This a new commission I started today of a dog named Lily. She loves being on the water so I'm working from a photo of her and her owner in a kayak. The finished painting will just have Lily in it.

Right now I don't have the proportions of Lily quiet right. She's not as fat as I have her painted by any means and it's the main thing I need to change. When I painted the lake water I should have gone all the way across, but I stopped short where I thought I'd be placing Lily. This caused me to get the proportions off a little. Nothing a little paint can't fix.

I also started a self portrait today. Tomorrow I'll be posting the progress on that if there's anything worth showing.

Bri-

Tule in the Field

"Tule in the Field"


24x18 acrylic on canvas
SOLD

Here's the finished painting of Tule. What a wonder to work on. I'm always amazed at how connected I feel to the dogs in the paintings after the weeks I work on them. Each one is so different but the result, creatively, is always the same, I've become connected to my subject on another level. I guess spending hours looking at the same animal for days or weeks at a time has a positive affect on me.

Most times it's hard to see the painting leave my studio, but since I usually wait a few days for final payment before I ship a finished piece, it still hangs on the studio wall staring back at me. That's also a great thing about this blog, any painting I want to see again, I just search through the archives.

Bri-

Tule installment 11

"Tule in the Field"
(in progress)

24x18 acrylic on canvas
SOLD

I spent about an hour painting today. I'm at the point where I'm just about done, but still need feedback from the client make "final touches" decisions. It's a part I really like and I'm always nervous about too. Not because of the clients input by any means but because of what I bring to the input. I'm no exception to the sensitive artist stereo type, but I think I hide it pretty well. Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have written that?

For me it's always a question of "Am I understanding them correctly?" When they say "Go lighter" will I go light enough, or if it's "straighten out the ears" what do they mean exactly? Sometimes I just sit in front of the canvas asking the painting and the photograph I'm working from what I should do. Staring at what I've done so far and what I could do to make it even more like the dog I'm painting. What element of the dogs soul is missing and how to make the paint express it.

Right now I think it's her eyes and her legs that I need to add a little paint to. Plus I'm open for input.

Bri-

Several hours of Tule

"Tule in the Field"
(in progress)

24x18 acrylic on canvas
SOLD

I spent several hours on Tule today and here's the results.

Bri-

Onto painting Tule

"Tule in the Field"
(in progress)

24x18 acrylic on canvas
SOLD

I spent the morning with Corrine running around Union County, OR. We picked up an old washing machine, the kind with a hand crank for ringing out the wet clothes, that we plan to turn into a planter. Then we went to Edge Gallery and Coffee Shop in La Grande. Pete Peterson who owns and runs the place had some very inspiring works. You may see some NYC night scenes from me because of our visit there. Of course they'll have dogs in them.

After the fun morning out in there, I went into the Short Term Gallery to get some work done. I spent most of the day making adjustments to Tule's nose and right eye. It's one of the things I love about acrylic paint, I can go back and make changes whenever I want. I also spent time shading and making tonal changes to the rest of Tule's head. It might seem as if the painting is moving backwards, but really it's moving forward.

Bri-

Delhi Coffee

"Delhi Coffee"

9x6 coffee and ink on paper
$25 unframed plus $6 for shipping in the US
Email:dogbri@q.com to purchase

I've been going through old photos of our dogs to use as references for this current batch of Coffee Hounds. This one is of Bettini in the yard of our home in Delhi, NY. She was allowed to run around at will when we first got her, but after she attacked a porcupine early on a Sunday morning during calving season she was never allowed out without a leash and an owner attached to her.

She made her bed, when after the quills were removed, the next day she went straight for the porcupine's den. Now she still sleeps in that same bed. No leash, no walk.

Bri-

Sleeping Coffee

"Sleeping Coffee"

9x6 coffee and ink on paper
$25 unframed plus $6 for shipping in the US
SOLD

This is our dog Zephyr the day I brought him home from the shelter in Harlem. He was so scared of the outside world that I had to carry him almost everywhere we went. Understandably he was very tired after his first day out in the world.

It didn't take long for him to warm up to NYC, but the first few days there was a lot of waiting at street corners so he could make sure that I wasn't going to trick him into walking out into traffic. As he got older we curb trained him and when he'd go to the bathroom in the city he would just step care-freely out onto 6th Ave. He no longer cared that taxis were flying by at 40mph. He had to go, so he went.

Bri-

Stone Coffee Puppy

"Stone Coffee Puppy"

9x6 coffee and ink on paper
$25 plus $6 for shipping in the US
SOLD

This is the puppy my friends just got. They are also the folks responsible for the delicious coffee I drink and paint with. The Stone family own Sorbenots Coffee, it's Stone Bros backwards. Clever eh?

For my birthday last month Andrea gave me a CD of dog pictures their son Hunter had taken, because I had been talking about wanting some new subjects. So this was based on one of those photos. Fun to do a Coffee Hound after a long break from painting with coffee.

Bri-