I fell in love with this sweet face during my last visit to River's Wish. Stormy is a Pygora goat. He is older and arthritic and has been a loner until just last week, when he apparently met his goat soul mate.
Vegan came to River's Wish after being rescued by SCRAPS (Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service) in a cruelty case. She is a Yorkshire pig, who now lives surrounded by love and hanging out with her friends Valentine and Vincent van Pig.
I'm hoping to get more portrait-style paintings of the pigs soon. I got some reference shots of Valentine with great expressions, but terrible lighting. Then Vegan wandered by in the sunshine, giving me this lovely candid angle.
Here is a time-lapse video of Vegan's painting in progress. It too has terrible light, unfortunately. I must have bumped something as I set it up that caused it to look blown out. Oh, well.
Moxie came to River's Wish as a very young calf. He was taken from his mother, a dairy cow, at two days of age. Because he cannot give milk, he was of no use to the dairy industry and immediately headed for slaughter. His only purpose was to keep his mother giving milk. Fortunately for him and his bestie, Bob, activists rescued the pair and brought them to live their lives in peace at the sanctuary.
Moxie was laying in the dirt and straw while I tried to take his photo, so I sat down with him to get a better angle and share a hug or two. He is such a sweet, happy boy. If only all of the calves could be so lucky.
I haven't learned this shaggy little goat's name yet, but it certainly did a nice job modeling for me. The lighting is so lovely in some of these photos; I've become addicted to painting the animals posing in it. This painting was a struggle despite everything the reference photo had going for it. Maybe it was the shaggy fur of the goat, or maybe I was just tired. It was still fun to capture the mix of warm and cool reflected light on the shadow side of the goat's face.
I will need to go back to River's Wish for more photos soon. I can't get myself to paint anything without this beautiful light.
Watch me struggle in a one-minute time lapse here.
Angel might be the friendliest goose living at River's Wish Animal Sanctuary. He suffers from a malady known as "angel wing," which causes the wings to twist at the wrist and protrude at an odd angle, often with underdeveloped feathers. Angel came to River's Wish when his person died, and now has a permanent home at the shelter.
While I attempted to photograph Angel, he was all about sitting on my lap. Eventually, I gave up getting a regular photo and tried a video instead. I helped him climb up onto my legs as I kneeled in the pen, and he immediately busied himself with nipping at my arm. Meanwhile, a few feet away, a red-faced, apoplectic duck plotted my demise. Angel spotted the duck, jumped off my lap, ran across the pen, and literally goosed him. It was brilliant. That duck had it coming.
One of the things I looked forward to as I headed to River's Wish for my second photo shoot was getting more reference of the sheep with the glorious mane, Precious. It was a warm spring day, I was wearing a little camisole and rolled up jeans, yet somehow it never occurred to me that the sheep would be... shorn.
Precious was only recognizable by her spotted nose and intense gaze. This isn't her—she was sitting back inside a dark barn. This sheep was the only one adventurous enough to go out in the sun naked. Well, not completely naked, exactly. She still had random tufts of fur, reminiscent of one of those sad-looking Chinese Crested dogs. What a good sport she was, to let me take her photo!
Here's a link to the "making of" video for Bad Hair Day.
Petunia came to spend her life at River's Wish after it was spared by a kind family—she was previously destined to become a Thanksgiving dinner. It is both mind-blowing and heartbreaking to think of the millions of turkeys who are not so lucky. But Petunia serves as an ambassador for her kind, showing that turkeys can be loving and sweet (not meat).
She will be featured in the River's Wish benefit show at Kolva-Sullivan Gallery in September. I see a much larger version of this painting in my future!
Another trip to River's Wish Animal Sanctuary resulted in some 750 sunny photos, including this one of a friendly, curious goat. His name may be Bulldog, or it may be Sky. He didn't tell me at the time. What's important right now is the reason for the 750 new photos...
I'm pleased to announce that I have been invited to show my paintings of River's Wish animals at the Kolva Sullivan Gallery this September! The exhibit will benefit the sanctuary, with a percentage of proceeds going to help Kit and Pete continue their essential work for the animals.
I'll share more details as I have them. Until then, please enjoy the studies I make for the larger works to come, while I try to learn the names of all of my models!
I'd never seen a pileated woodpecker in my life, until about two weeks ago. Now I've seen three.
This guy was digging around in some leaves on my walking route, just off of a busy street. I heard him before I saw him, which is surprising given the astonishing red of his fauxhawk.
He was not bothered in the least by my efforts to photograph him. It was almost impossible to catch a nice pose, though, so I resorted to video. A super-blurry video still became the reference for the painting.
This cutie lives at River's Wish Animal Sanctuary, along with Precious the sheep, Blue the goat, and hundreds of other animals saved from terrible fates and allowed to live out their natural lives. So few animals get to do this. It's heartbreaking. Visiting the shelter always gives me mixed feelings. It's comforting to spend time with the lucky few who make it to the shelter. But I can't help but think about the legions more who don't.
I eventually learned that this gentleman's name is... KEVIN! 🤣
This mourning dove appeared inside my festival tent at a midwestern show several years ago. It had clearly spent the night there. When I unzipped the tent in the morning, this guy (or gal) startled the hell out of me by flapping wildly, flying around until it landed atop one of my display walls. Once it calmed down, I managed to get a few so-so photos before shooing it out.
At the time, I was showing botanical pastel paintings and felt lucky for once that I had to frame my work behind glass. It made cleanup a bit easier.
This was the first time I recall having seen one of these birds, but afterward, I noticed them everywhere. There is a pair that lives a block from my house that I've seen for years now. I love their soft, pinkish coloration (enhanced a bit here for the sake of the painting).
Kyra is my first-ever pet portrait commission, and possibly my first painting of a dog. She is a lab-pit bull mix. I never got to meet her. This portrait is a memorial for an obviously sweet and well-loved girl.
Her people posted a photo of the painting next to a container of her ashes, which affected me quite a bit. I have a similar display on my dining room hutch. Mine includes a 6" x 6" oil portrait my friend Kate (Vita) Vander Wende did of my husband Paul and a pepper shaker filled with his ashes.
This photo of Mocha has been calling to me for a while, but somehow kept getting put off. Either I had just painted a cat, I had a commission to do, or someone had requested goats. Anyway, yesterday was the day. It was a fun painting to make, save for the self-inflicted stress of recording it in time lapse. The time-lapse process is oddly addictive. My heart races when I start the painting, all self-conscious and trying to be aware of where I'm standing. Maybe that rush has something to do with the addictiveness, but it's mostly the opportunity to watch the process from afar. The speed of the playback takes away the insecurity and mistakes and frustrations, making the progression seem almost magical. (See the video here.)
The title refers primarily to the magnificence and placement of my dorky cat. However, some research into the origin and of the Wordsworth's phrase "splendour in the grass" revealed unexpected appropriateness. Long story short, it's about finding beauty and meaning in ordinary things when we might otherwise be bitter and grieving. Pretty fitting and inspirational, but for now I'm going to have to settle for a bit of both.
Blue the Goat lives at River's Wish Animal Sanctuary with Precious, the sheep. Although he seems to have the run of the place generally, I found them hiding from the rain in the same shelter the day of my most recent visit. He was every bit as happy to pose for me as Precious, just a lot more squirmy and challenging to photograph.
His underbite gives him a sort of goofy, permanent smile. Hopefully, I captured the most dignified version of that possible.
Oliver the tabby makes a much more engaging painting subject than one might expect. He is a garden variety grey-brown tabby with a lopsided white mustache (see above). However, he has a few qualities that make him a blast to tackle in a quick oil study: his dramatically slanted eyes that never look the same color twice, and his natural aptitude for striking a pose.
He even has a knack for picking a good background (or lack thereof).
Another thing that added to the excitement of making this painting was the time lapse capture going on slightly behind the easel. No pressure there at all! Time lapse painting videos have always been a personal favorite, so inevitably I started making them. It has an interesting side effect of fresher paintings. This is probably due to either feeling rushed, or just wanting to get done so I can look at the video. So far it's a good thing.
Never has there been a greater love affair between camera and sheep than the one I witnessed last week at River's Wish Animal Sanctuary. This beauty could not get enough of posing for me.
She was hanging out just at the edge of a shelter, avoiding the rain while catching perfect light on her pale green eyes. Although the sheep was pure white save a few spots on her face, the depth of color occurring in the shadows of its glorious mane was fun to catch and exaggerate.
This is no doubt only the first in a series on Precious the sheep. I mean, just look at that face!
It's amazing she is so friendly, considering her history. When Precious was a baby she was brutally attacked by a so-called human, and her leg was broken. After her rescue, she lived in a shelter in Montana. When the owner of that sanctuary died in 2014, Precious found her forever home at River's Wish.
Last week I got the opportunity to spend a few hours taking photos at River's Wish Animal Sanctuary, one of my favorite places! Hundreds of rescued animals make River's Wish their home, including but not limited to: horses, cows, goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, geese, cats, dogs, rabbits, donkeys, miniature horses, miniature donkeys, and of course, chickens.
This girl was a stunner, all black except for a bunch of deep maroon feathers below her chin. I don't think I've ever seen feathers that color before, almost identical to that funky purplish-red color some women dye their hair.
She was a good model, although, like many of the lucky souls at the sanctuary, she was almost too friendly! My biggest struggle photographing that day was getting far enough away from the curious creatures to focus. Everybody settled down eventually, though, so many more River's Wish residents will appear here soon.
This young gentleman appeared one day in the yard of the studio. He was maybe five or six months old and very friendly. He let me pick him up, which was how I got him to be still enough for me to take his photo. I love how he looks like a wild baby panther.
I had never seen him before, and have not seen him since. I hope he's doing all right out in the world.
I think these red pigeons are the most beautiful things. I've only seen four of them that I can recall. The first two were a few years ago at Alki beach in Seattle. I couldn't get close enough to photograph them, and upon trying to google them later, found very little information on them.
This Portland city pigeon was far less shy. It and another red-headed friend were mucking about doing pigeon things with the usual flock (or flight or kit) of standard grey pigeons.
My photo still came out a bit blurry (not a wildlife photographer!), and I was a bit concerned about the harsh shadows on the concrete in the background. All those things combined to make an interesting challenge, however, and a painting I genuinely like.
Lily the Studio Cat is a very sweet girl when she's not an absolute raging bitch. She's one of those psycho kitties that can't get enough snuggles and attention until she randomly decides to hiss and claw you.
Last week when I brought a gentle, cat-friendly dog by the studio, Lily invented a move I like to call the Flying Halloween Sixteen Claw Ricochet. She somehow, while holding that classic arched-back Halloween-kitty pose, managed to fly at the dog, claws bared, and make contact with all four feet before bouncing off and tearing across the porch.
Anyway, I'm quite happy with this painting because it says all there is to say about Lily's personality.
