Paintings With Soul

THIS was crazy fun - settle in, here, because THIS is a good story. In the early part of 2007, the American Kennel Club invited artists to submit artwork for consideration as imagery for the 2007 Dog Show Championships. I couldn't decide on which Dog a Day piece to enter, so I decided to do a compilation. Actually, I did two of them, because I simply couldn't narrow things down. Using my scant photoshop skills (I am SO bad at Photoshop, still!) and scanned images of my paintings, I built composite designs which a local printer inked onto canvas for me. I stretched the canvases (as I recall they were about 18" x 24", not terribly large), and then went back into them with teeny tiny brushes, repainting the whole surface.** It wasn't a standard paint-by-numbers sort of pass - as I reworked things, I changed out the background on some of the paintings, modified dogs to better match breed standards, added different accents of color, changed the v...

FROM TOP: "Fifty-Two Vignettes," 18" x 22"; "Trophy Dog," 18" x 20"; both paintings acrylic on gallery stretched canvas, neither currently for sale, but inquiries may come to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . These are my two entries for this year's AKC-Eukanuba Poster Competition. Now all I have to do is brew a pot of tea, sit back, and wait. Till mid-November. Good thing I have lots of stuff to keep me occupied..... First, just a little history on these two pieces, which are all built off dog-a-day paintings from the past: Fifty-Two Vignettes is comprised of - you guessed it - 52 portraits. These dogs make up the 30 some most popular breeds based on AKC registries in 2007. Remember a few months back when I asked for breed specific photos? I needed a couple dogs to round out the piece. "Trophy Dog" has way too many portraits for me to count - well over 100, maybe 120. They are arranged in the shape of the Tiffany Loving Cup, which ...

Here's a working copy of one of my proposed designs for this year's AKC Eukanuba Poster Competition (18" x 20", acrylic on gallery stretched canvas). It's close to being done, at that final point where I'll live with it in my peripheral for a week (I do literally carry the painting with me through the house, so that it is always in the corner of my vision), dashing back into the studio to make changes as I discover them. (You think that's crazy? I have a friend who sleeps with his painting-in-progress, so that it is the first thing he sees in the morning! Hey, whatever works, right?!) The overall design is built of more than 100 dog-a-day paintings, collaged together to create the National Dog Championship trophy which goes to the Best in Show winner. I believe the trophy is called the Tiffany Loving Cup (I would appreciate confirmation of this from those of you in the know, so that I can title the painting correctly!). Because I repainted the images in a ...

I cannot begin to tell you what a fantastic weekend it was. I left early Friday morning and boarded a plane to California for the AKC Eukanaba National Championships Dog Show, returning lat last night. The entire weekend was phenomenal. The dogs were stellar, all primped and primed for their moment, and the AKC staff went out of their way to make me comfortable (thank you!). The show participants generously allowed me to take as many photos as I liked (well over 500!), and the public who stopped by for their own signed copy of the commemmorative poster were eager to share their own stories. I even met several dog-a-day readers, which was a wonderful treat! And, for those of you who have been patiently waiting, signed posters are available for purchase online, through the American Kennel Club website. Posters are $25 (which includes shipping), and those funds go directly to Take the Lead, a non-profit benefitting those 2-legged folk at the other end of the leash. I am especially ...