Dog

Dog

Friday 20 February 2015

Quiet Time




Blog 7

In the Chinese astrology each year is associated with an animal sign. This year on February 19, the day of the Chinese New Year, another year of the goat begins. For this reason, I want to tell you a little bit about my painting “Quiet Time”, the 12” x 12” acrylic painting of one of the goats that spent a summer at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum, a museum on the outskirts of Ottawa.


My fascination with animals is probably so strong because I discovered the animal world rather late. First of all, I usually lived in cities or areas of towns with hardly any farms.


Secondly, since I was scared by a large dog at the age 4 which jumped at me from behind a door, I never had the curiosity many kids have towards animals.  I never wanted to touch an animal and always kept a respectful distance. I only managed to overcome this fear when we adopted our first puppy.


When we moved to the country, my appreciation of animals grew - especially influenced by my painting buddy Rebecca Dufton who had already spent years sketching animals.


I have been at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum for several plein air outings to paint one of the heritage buildings.  However, I like to watch their animals, usually goats or sheep, cows, horses, turkeys, rabbits, and pigs, and often take photos of the animals on the grounds to be used as reference material in the studio.  My animal paintings are always done in the studio because animals as well as children move too much except if they are sleeping.


For the painting of the goat in “Quiet Time”  I decided to create a portrait of the animal deciding on a square canvas leaving out most of the surroundings. To create more texture, I used some modelling paste to create a 3D effect.


One of my friends from Germany fell in love with the painting right away which is a dream for every artist.  I was glad that the painting is small so she could take it home right away, and it has found a wonderful new home.


As I only painted one animal last year, the head of a black horse, I would like to paint more animal paintings this year. High on my list is finishing a double portrait of our dogs Candy and Alex followed by a portrait of our cat Miko - an urgent request of my daughter who just loves our little house tiger.


If you would like to have a painted portrait of the special animal companion please do not hesitate to contact me at kpeters@DomingoInformatics.ca to discuss the different options and possibilities.






No comments:

Post a Comment