Squared, A Painted Sketch ~~ Kimberly Kelly Santini

"Squared," image approximately 3-1/2" square, roughly centered on an 8" x 10" artists' multimedia board. This sketch can be yours for $59 plus s&h. Inquiries may come to me.       Thanks, as always, for looking at and sharing my paintings with your friends and family, Kim ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com     COMING UP ~~ PAINTING WORKSHOP "Mixing Color Not Mud": Saturday, October 8th, at the Orion Art Center in Lake Orion MICHIGAN. Email me to get on the early bird list.

What's the difference between a painted sketch and a painting?   Great question!   Painted sketches are done in acrylics on paper, more loosely detailed, a little whimsical. They must be displayed behind glass. Their size (rarely larger than 9" x 12") and complexity depend entirely on your budget. They start at $49.   Paintings are done on museum quality panels, carry more detail and density of color (comparatively speaking), and are also priced based on size and complexity. Paintings come with a varnish and are rigid enough to be displayed on a table easel or leaning on a shelf. A 4" square miniature painting starring one animal is $209 - prices go up from there.   Visuals usually help, too.   See some sketches.   And some paintings.   Can't make up your mind? Let me do it for you!! Email me for advice on your project.

Twilight, A Painted Sketch ~~ Kimberly Kelly Santini

"Twilight," image approximately 6" x 7" roughly centered on a 9" x 12" mounted artists' multimedia board. This is a commissioned portrait of two dogs, one in the twilight of his life, the other a sage youngster comparatively speaking. Done in Golden Open Acrylics. A special thank you to my new collector SB, who's been planning and waiting patiently for her painting. Marley (the Beagle) had been scheduled for a single portrait but when his Mom shared a remarkable photo of Marley and little (bigger) sister Billie slowly ambling off together, the concept for his painting changed completely. He left this world peacefully in July, at the ripe old age of 15. I just love how this composition sums up his relationship with his family. Always at their side. Thanks, as always, for looking at and sharing my paintings with your friends and family, Kim ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com COMING UP ~~ PAINTING WORKSHOP "Mixing Color Not Mud": Saturday, October 8th, at the Orion Art Center in Lake Orion MICHIGAN. Email me to get on the early bird list.

What's the difference between a painted sketch and a painting? Great question! Painted sketches are done in acrylics on paper, more loosely detailed, a little whimsical. They must be displayed behind glass. Their size (rarely larger than 9" x 12") and complexity depend entirely on your budget. They start at $49. Paintings are done on museum quality panels, carry more detail and density of color (comparatively speaking), and are also priced based on size and complexity. Paintings come with a varnish and are rigid enough to be displayed on a table easel or leaning on a shelf. A 4" square miniature painting starring one animal is $209 - prices go up from there. Visuals usually help, too. See some sketches. And some paintings. Can't make up your mind? Let me do it for you!! Email me for advice on your project.

Roxy

ORDER NOTECARDS/REPRODUCTIONS

"Roxy," 8" x 10", portrait of a little black French Bulldog, done in Golden Open Acrylics on an Ampersand Gessobord. This one's not for sale - she's already got a most excellent home. However, I know there will be those wanting something similar, so just email me and we'll put together a killer project just for you. This is the live demonstration painting I did on Saturday atRaining Cats and Dogs in Frankenmuth, Michigan. I moved a good hunk of my studio onto their front porch, and set up for an idyllic day of pushing color about and chatting it up with passers-by. For the record, I am so pleased that they invited me to hang my artwork in their store AND allowed me to come work with them for a day. I can't wait to do it again.  If you didn't make it up this weekend, that's ok - my work is there indefinately, and I will regularly bring up new paintings, too. 10% of all sales (including commissioned portraits!) made through them will be donated to animal shelters/rescue groups in the Frankenmuth area, too.  Thanks, as always, for looking at and sharing my paintings with your friends and family, Kim ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com OH YEAH - "Ladybugs" has sold (thanks to collector AT!!), which means reproductions are now available on FineArtAmerica. And the same goes with "Whiskery Clyde" (welcome to new collector BK!!) - get your repros here. COMING UP ~~ PAINTING WORKSHOP "Mixing Color Not Mud": Saturday, October 8th, at the Orion Art Center in Lake Orion MICHIGAN. Email me to get on the early bird list.

Just a few pics from the weekend..... At first I set up on the porch, but it was literally raining cats and dogs, and they kindly brought me inside (ironically next to the Thundershirts)....... Where I was teased with displays of colorful leashes and great gifts for nearly everyone I knew......

Marley vs The Dragon, Part II A Lesson Painting ~~ Kimberly Kelly Santini

I took a little break from this one, but finished her up late late late last night. Or was it this morning? oh well, does it really matter?

 

Here's where we were last week.

 

And here's the what I did last night (NOTE: in the interest of full disclosure, in addition to painting, I also consumed the better 1/2 of a package of mint oreos):

 

I started by pulling Marley's gaze down to the dinosaur toy. I also popped a bunch more color into her face. I spent lots of time studying the background - my initial concept included a sidewalk/concrete showdown, but the value range this created wasn't working.

 

So I brought the game indoors, literally. I added a stack of board games, thinking that would provide both supplemental context and the appropriate values. But in the long run, I realized this competed with Marley's face. Not acceptable.

 

So out the games went, and instead I laid down a loose and shadowy interpretation of an interior room in the far ground. And I added turquoise/blue washes to the rug so that the dinosaur really popped. (And then whiled away some time looking at various rug patterns online to see if any were suitable for the foreground - no luck there, but I did find one that would be simply marvelous in my front room.)

 

Finally, just to make it obvious that the dinosaur was a toy, I added a few marbles in.

 

"Marley vs The Dragon," 16" x 22", Golden Open Acrylics on a gallery stretched canvas, depicting the (now infamous) bulldog pup Marley, a Schleich dinosaur, and a few of my (lost) marbles. This painting is available for purchase through the Orion Art Center (248-693-4986) as part of their Dragon on the Lake Festival.

 

So what do you think about the first Dragonslayer painting? Is this a series I should continue?

 

Thanks, as always, for looking at and sharing my paintings with your friends and family.

 

Kim

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

 

Ginger ~~ Kimberly Kelly Santini

"Ginger," a commissioned pet portrait of a boxer, 9" x 18". Done in Golden Open Acrylics on an Ampersand Gessobord, Ginger will be headed to a new home shortly (THANK YOU!).   I posted some in process photos on the studio Facebook page if you are interested in seeing Ginger's progression.   Before you peek, though, see if you can guess what color the underpainting is......   I'll give you a hint - it actually factored in as the third color in my triad of orange, green and [fill in the blank]. Using a triad for the basis of the majority of the paint mixtures allows for a rich and harmonious variety of neutrals (this is something we talk about in my painting workshops! I've got another one scheduled for October......).   Thanks, as always, for looking at and sharing my paintings with your friends and family, Kim ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com     JUST ANNOUNCED!!  PAINTING WORKSHOP "Mixing Color Not Mud": Saturday, October 8th, at the Orion Art Center in Lake Orion MICHIGAN, for reservations call 248-693-4986

Mya, A Lesson Painting, Part II of II ~~ Kimberly Kelly Santini

I rose early this morning to get household things like grocering done so that I could spend the bulk of the day with my paints (and there's nothing like a full fridge to keep kids outta my hair!!).

 

Here's where we left off with Mya's portrait last week. Starting with a bright turquoise underpainting, I got her blocked in, sculpting her face with large and broad marks.

 

 

Today I started with identifying the deeper shadows inside her mask. She's got a light mask, but the density of her fur cast a smoky, dark shadow underneath the dusky fur on top. Instead of painstakingly painting all those little pockets of shadow, I laid down several dark and inky swaths of paint (remember I am a lazy painter!). 

 

I also popped some more of that turquoise back in to her face. Having the background more of a neutral tone allowed me to see that her expression could use a little more "oomph" of color.

 

 

Now is the trickier part - mixing translucent glazes of oranges, pinks, periwinkles, and lavenders, and starting to pull the highlighted, dusky colored fur in her mask to the surface. 

 

At the same time, I laid down even paler glazes on her muzzle and neck, softening the transitions and de-saturating some of the modeling.

 

Do you see that I also glazed over that hot spot under her chin? It was competing with the little pink snippet on her nose.

 

Working with glazes is tricky because it is guess work. The glaze medium is milky, and one never knows the exact translucence until it is dry. But I feel it is worth the risk because of the ethereal glow that glazing creates - I just have to remind myself to be patient while it is drying (on top of being lazy, I lack patience - I want things to look good NOW!).

 

 

After allowing everything to dry and spending a couple hours with the painting in my peripheral vision, I made a few tweaks and adjustments before placing the finishing touches. 

 

I added whiskers in - pale pink on the lit side of her face (because they have little pigment to them, the light is shining THROUGH the hair shaft), and lavender on the dark side. Yes, her whiskers are the same color on both sides of her face, but in this particular lighting situation they are different.

 

One of the mistakes beginning painters make is painting what they think they see (whiskers universally the same color or eyeballs exactly round) instead of what is in front of their face.

 

Below I've inserted a detail of Mya's eyes. My crispest edges are here and in her nose - nothing harsh is anywhere else in this painting.

 

She's living and breathing inside this portrait, despite the dashes of lively color.

 

 

I am just giddy with how Mya's portrait has turned out. Let's hope Mya's family feels the same!

 

Thanks, as always, for looking at and sharing my paintings with your friends and family,

Kim

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

 

 

JUST ANNOUNCED!!  PAINTING WORKSHOP: Saturday, October 8th, at the Orion Art Center in Lake Orion MICHIGAN, for reservations call 248-693-4986

You Are My Sunshine, Reworked

ORDER NOTECARDS/REPRODUCTIONS HERE

I painted Mona's birthday portrait a couple weeks ago (remember? it was a lesson painting in early July), and was pleased with it at the time. But as the days went by, I saw things I thought would make the painting better.   So out came the edges of the window frame's shadow and in went lavender and cobalt glazes on her body (the image above is the reworked painting).   What do you think? Is it now a smidge better?    If paintings hang around in my studio for long enough, I nearly always find something I want to change. It's a horrible habit.   Thanks, as always, for looking at and sharing my paintings with your friends and family, Kim ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com     Share the dog a day love and forward this email to a friend     Lesson Paintings   I've created a one-stop spot for you to follow along with this year's lesson paintings.   Hopefully this will provide an easier means to locate and study my process.   It's just part of the facelift I'm giving the studio website this week.   Enjoy!

Mya, A Lesson Painting, Part I ~~ Kimberly Kelly Santini

I started a new commission, a 12" x 14" portrait of a gorgeous Husky (Malamute? I don't know the difference - someone educate me please!). Since the painting was too big for me to complete in one day, I decided to give you yet another step-by-step.

Don't you love this underpainting? It's Light Turquoise (Pthalo) and while I don't use it that often, when I do it just makes me smile. It will add the perfect accent to all the purples and blues in Mya's coat, and play a nice compliment to the warmer buff tones in her shoulders.

You can see my sketch, done loosely in a paler version of the underpainting - I just identified where Mya's face was going to sit, and roughed out the shape of her skull before reaching for more color.

Here I've started to sculpt her face - with a Husky, because their skin and fur thickly blanket their head, it is key that I get the planes identified properly at this stage. Otherwise she'll look like a stuffed animal.

And because I like to talk to my muses while they are in the studio, I went for her eyes and nose next. Getting an area of the canvas done correctly in the earlier stages allows for better decision making - and the eyes identify my darkest darks and my lightest lights, so I can base all my other paint mixtures upon their relationship to Mya's eyes.

I can actually hear her breathing now. 

While I adored the underpainting, it was distracting, so I mixed a harmonious gray (using the light turquoise and cadmium red - opposites on the color wheel) and glazed various tints of it overtop the background for a lovely effect. 

Isn't she gorgeous?

And that's where I'll leave off. Thanks so much for your attention - I love sharing my paintings with you!!

Kim

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

Perseverance ~~ by Kimberly Kelly Santini

Every artist has them. The days when what we intend to happen at the easel just doesn't. Not because of the phone ringing or children who can't be hypnotized by the television. But because our muse isn't present. (Which reminds me, one of my all time favorite TED Talks by Elizabeth Gilbert is a must-hear for all you creatives).

 

I tell my students for every painting they see on gallery walls, to visualize at least 10 others in the trash. Because that is my reality. And it was especially apparent today.

 

My idea: a tender little painting of a calf and her mother, off in the distance of a vast field. 

Doesn't sound like rocket science, does it?

 

So the underpainting got carefully painted, with warm, bold colors in the foreground, a fantastic yellow chosen to perfectly compliment the dark blue in the cows' bodies and a lovely pale blue bit for the furthest distance. I envisioned the cows as tiny little forms, perhaps a 1/3 of the width of this panel, in the upper left.

 

So I started to sketch them in, and it's all wrong. The calf was a long-legged rat and the mother looked equine. I wiped it out (the lavender streak below is a remnant) and tried again. And again, a mess. And a third time, no go. I kept working and redrawing and refining, and the cows were creeping closer and closer to the picture plane.

 

My subconscious wanted these cows big, and I kept forcing them to be teeny. Clearly I was losing the battle, so I surrendered.

 

I put music on LOUDLY and stopped second guessing - I let my muse take over and do her thing.

 

 

And look what started to show itself!

  

After a few hours at the easel, a totally different version than what was initially intended came about. It's far more colorful than I ever envisioned, and embodies tenderness despite the mass of the momma cow (or perhaps because of her mass?).

 

And I liked the lavender reminder of my mistakes and frustration so much, that I left it there.

 

This one is a true Lesson Painting.

 

With a resolution to come tomorrow.

 

"Ole!!" (seriously, listen to Elizabeth Gilbert)

 

Thanks so much for sharing my art with your friends and family,

Kim

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

 

 Ted Talks

 

You seriously don't know about TED conferences and TED talks?

 

Visit TED.com and take a look around. 

 

No matter the subject, there's a fascinating talk presented by an expert (or at the very least, a highly entertaining wanna-be).

 

Here's a few of my favorites:

 

Amy Tan

Isabel Allende

Robert Gupta

Malcolm Gladwell

Evelyn Glennie

Seth Godin (this is one of MANY of his talks, all worthwhile)

 

Tell me what TED talks you fall in love with.

 

 

 

 

 

You Are My Sunshine, A Lesson Painting ~~ Kimberly Kelly Santini

To properly celebrate the kitten's 1st birthday, I thought I'd take one of my demonstrations from the recent workshop and finish it off as a lesson painting. Enjoy!

 

One of the first things I talk about with my students is taking artistic license, modifying reference photos to improve on the composition AND make the image more lifelike (because photos will chromatically flatten the scene and make highlights and shadows exaggerated and dull). Here are some of the changes I consciously chose before laying brush to canvas:

• I plan on contrasting the blue and lavender tabby with the honeyed orange floor.
• I am tilting her head just a bit towards the viewer to create an oval/round shape out of her tail and body.
• I've also shifted the grain of the wood to run at a diagonal, thus creating a balance to the angle of her body.
• I will remove the distracting elements in the background.
• I will further separate the far ground shadows from her own, creating a sliver of lighter space that pulls the viewer's eye straight to her.

 

 

I began with an indian yellow and cadmium yellow underpainting because they will properly capture the essence of the sunlight. (Did you notice the directional brushwork I used in the yellows to create a sensation of the hardwood?)

 

Overtop that yellow ground, I began to roughly place the kitten's form and the shadows. I used a big brush - at least 1" wide. I am working out the basic shapes that will create this composition, without getting fussy. I am also starting to create the pattern of lights and darks.

 

 

Next I have redrawn the kitten's form, using relative measurements to make certain she is anatomically correct. I decided to tighten the curve of her tail so that the tip of it breaks out of the shadow and into the light - doesn't this add an element of whimsy and motion to an otherwise quiet composition? I picture it sort of flicking back and forth.

 

I don't usually add markings this early in the process, but felt that placing them would aid me in modeling her tiny form. So in they went!

 

 

Meanwhile, I return to the floor and add saturated colors - these will make up the "peek-a-boo pockets" that will show through the layers of paint that are next to come.

 

I also glaze over and soften the edges of her shadow - the only sharp edges in this entire painting will be in Mona's body. This is a great trick I use to drive my focal point home. (And photographs' edges are always universally crisp.)

 

Up next? I will refine my overall values and begin to lay in some playful color. You'll see more tomorrow!

 

Thanks so much for sharing my art with your friends and family,

Kim

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

 

 

Happy Birthday Mona!   Our 2 lb bundle of purr has captured miles of contentment and sunbeams during her first year of life.   We don't really know her true birthday - the shelter estimated she was a tiny 10 week old, but our vet estimated she was 1/2 that. Based on her petite size now (a trim 8 lbs), we think it's likely she was somewhere in between the two.   It's hard to imagine life in the Santini household without this little sweetheart. She is a willing snuggler, an even more willing playmate, and a fierce hunter of dust bunnies.   Even Finnigan has learned to love her. (Well, love might be a strong word. He tolerates her surprisingly well, and does his job to keep her butt extra clean.)   And all came about because she stretched a paw outside her crate, latched onto my son's tshirt, and wouldn't let go.   I heard today that our shelter (the Oakland Pet Adoption Center) has over 170 cats. I imagine shelters across the country are just as crowded.   Mona is a perfect example of the wonderful pets that are waiting, patiently, to bring joy and delight into the lives of those willing to adopt or foster.

Great Expectations, A Lesson Painting ~~ Kimberly Kelly Santini

It's been a long time since I did a lesson painting, and I thought these puppies were the perfect fit!

 

This 16" x 7" panel will ultimately star 8 Great Dane puppies. It is tentatively titled "Great Expectations," and is a fundraiser for Ohio Great Dane Rescue - if you are interested in purchasing it, speak up now and be first on the list!

 

I started with an underpainting - the puppys' skin is pink and warm, so I chose a brighter value of magenta. I placed very general guidelines on the panel to represent the placement of the puppies.

 

 

Next up came some local color to represent the negative space in the painting - yellows and lime green for the foreground, and darker greens for the background. See how the pink reads as orange when placed next to the other colors? There are some fantastic color vibrations happening, even at this early stage.

 

 

I began loosely placing the pups' forms, using a broad brush and unblended marks. I want to get a sense of their body volume and weight distribution, so that I can make necessary adjustments now. For instance, I am going to slide that pup in the lower corner up and back a bit, and the one center back row needs to be bigger. I can also tweak legs, bellies, ears and all that right now, before I've invested hours of work into the piece.

 

 

I continue sculpting the forms with my brush, and add additional layers to the back- and foregrounds. I'm not worried about local color (meaning the actual color of the dogs), but I am focusing on values and form. By doing this, I've started to highlight the pups' different markings/coloring without limiting my color choices, and unified the surface by scattering bits of similar color fragments across it.

 

Do you see the "X" in the composition created by the rumpled blanket in the foreground? and the "+" that anchors the center of the canvas? and how the dogs at each end bracket the others with their countered visual weight? these are key compositional elements that will make the finished piece far more than just cute little puppy faces.

 

Tonite's another late night painting session - let's see if I can't tie things up and share a completed "Great Expectations" with you tomorrow!

 

Thanks so much for sharing my art with your friends and family,

Kim

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com